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Neil Turner's Blog

Neil Turner's Blog

@neilturner.me.uk

Technology and randomness, since 2002

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A Bluetooth Dongle for Home Assistant

Last weekend, I wrote about turning a Tuya device into a Bluetooth Proxy. But if all you want is a USB device that plugs directly into your Home Assistant appliance to add Bluetooth support, then consider this Krisnorey Bluetooth Dongle from Amazon (sponsored link). If you're running Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi, then your...

bluetoothdongle

Biddulph Grange Garden

When I was writing up about our visit to the Plas Cadnant Hidden Garden in July, I realised that I'd forgotten to write about when we went to Biddulph Grange Garden in May. We went there on the May Day Bank Holiday Monday, which also happened to be our wedding anniversary. I assume I had...

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Turning a Tuya device into a Bluetooth Proxy

A couple of years back, I bought an M5Stack Atom Lite to act as a Bluetooth Proxy for Home Assistant. Last month, an update to the ESPHome firmware meant that more devices could become a Bluetooth Proxy, including Tuya devices, and so I've now got another Bluetooth Proxy in my home. The device in question...

bluetoothhomeassistant

A return visit to the People’s History Museum

Between returning from Wales, and our ten-year-old starting four weeks at summer holiday club, we had a fallow week where Christine and I took turns to look after them during the daytime. So, I took them for their first visit to the People's History Museum in Manchester. Christine and I have been before, back in...

Sliding into September

We're into the final third of the year. As I work at a university, September is a busy month as new students arrive to enrol and returning students come back after the long summer break, so campus is going to be busy again after a quiet few months. This month also sees my employer adopting...

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Unblogged August

August is my busiest month of the year at work, although this year I only had to work one weekend, rather than two. That was very much welcome and thanks to some changes with UCAS and some better planning on the part of our systems team at work. Anyway, we've had some free time to...

A recovery update

It's been four weeks since I last wrote about my recovery, following my seizure in May. Because August is my busiest month at work, most of this month's blog posts were written in advance and so I haven't talked about what has happened with my health since last month. Things have happened and so it's...

Submitting dashcam footage to Op Snap

In last week's review of our new Nextbase dashcam, I mentioned that, within 48 hours of having the dashcam fitted, we experienced a near miss which was recorded by the dashcam. So, we submitted this to our local police force's Op Snap portal. Most police forces have an 'Op Snap' (Operation Snap) portal; for example,...

Coyote vs Acme film review

Although it's not officially released until this coming Friday, it appears that a number of UK cinemas are showing limited previews of Coyote vs Acme this week. This included our local Vue cinema in Halifax, and so the three of us went along on Saturday to watch it. The film is inspired by a 1990...

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RHS Garden Bridgewater

On our way back from our holiday in Wales, we stopped off at the RHS Garden Bridgewater to the north of Manchester. We've been several times before, as we had an RHS membership in 2023, but this was my parents' first visit. A quick history of Bridgewater The RHS has a more detailed history of...

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Our 2026 holiday: Castell Caernarfon

Our holiday visit to Caernarfon Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in North Wales. Built by Edward I, this massive fortress offers views of the Menai Strait, museums, and a legacy of royal investitures. Discover practical visiting tips, including accessibility updates, family activities, and the castle's unique 13th-century origins and layout.

Clearing through the ages

This is one of those rare occasions where I talk about my day job. Today is Results Day in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (Scotland had theirs on Tuesday last week) when the results of this summer's A-level examinations are released. This also means that many 18 year olds will find out if they have...

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