OV9

Mark_bt52 wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 2:02 pm PS Yes, Field Army HQ. Going back there in April.

Small world. I worked there 2015-2018.

Ah, I was there 2019-2020, but then the IT service supplier lost the bid to carry on.
They have won it back now though so most of us involved are returning.
Will be a relief. The guys at Cumberland Building Society are great but it's like going back in time 20 years.

Mark_bt52 wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 4:32 pm The guys at Cumberland Building Society are great but it's like going back in time 20 years.

Wow. It must like being in the 21st century !

Feels like a space odyssey

Do you get a bacon-sausage-egg-hash-brown roll from the mess on a Friday ? They're not "good" but they were good if you like greasy carbs.

We used to get away with going into the officers' mess bar (directly opposite Blenheim) at lunchtime but they stopped that

Edit to add - I enjoyed working there. By and large military folk are quite no-nonsense and it was always clear what you needed to do.

I agree completely. Probably my most enjoyable contact which is one reason I'm keen to go back.

I didn't try the breakfast, but I heard about it. The lunchtime curry could be quite good though.

After speaking to a few colonels and majors and hearing first hand the things they had done and seen I find myself having a lot more respect for the whole organisation.

Went to Worthy Down a couple of times as well. They have the most amazing collection of military equipment. Historic stuff going back from longbows through flintlock pistols, muskets, rifles, grenades, machine guns, rocket launchers etc.
I thought I had zero interest in all that sort of stuff but it really is quite something.

Mark_bt52 wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:34 pm I agree completely. Probably my most enjoyable contact which is one reason I'm keen to go back.

I didn't try the breakfast, but I heard about it. The lunchtime curry could be quite good though.

After speaking to a few colonels and majors and hearing first hand the things they had done and seen I find myself having a lot more respect for the whole organisation.

Went to Worthy Down a couple of times as well. They have the most amazing collection of military equipment. Historic stuff going back from longbows through flintlock pistols, muskets, rifles, grenades, machine guns, rocket launchers etc.
I thought I had zero interest in all that sort of stuff but it really is quite something.

If you're up in my neck of the woods...
A: Good help you
B: ARES and the royal armouries are here
https://royalarmouries.org/

Current work colleague is something of an alumni of there and he raves about it.

You're not unfamiliar with doing research, I'll let you see what your can find out about both and see if it's up your street.

Mark_bt52 wrote: Fri Feb 12, 2021 9:34 pm ...hearing first hand the things they had done and seen I find myself having a lot more respect for the whole organisation.

This, a heck of a lot. I get very annoyed with the idiots that start on the "oh, the army, they just go round killing people" crap.

I worked for a while with a guy that served in the Falklands and both Gulf Wars. Sobering. And that's just the stuff they don't mind talking about over lunch.

Being surrounded by people in camo all day was weird at first too, I'd assumed they had some kind of plain uniform for office duty.

Also, the fact the guys on the gate and any NCOs around site always call you "sir". That never stopped feeling weird !

I have massive respect for the military.

On a similar vein - if you ever get a chance to work at the Atomic Weapons Establishment, first think carefully because it's a really weird place to work, but the museum is superb and not surprisingly has a load of stuff that you will never see anywhere else (and it's not open to the public).

Just installed an Apple CarPlay module into the BMW, a faff having to pull out the glovebox to be able to hide everything but it seems good, had to disconnect the pass airbag isolation switch and had started the car to warm up so that’s errored, will need to get that cleared, otherwise very happy, very slick integration and keeps all the BMW stuff, hold menu for 2 seconds to get into it.

Full screen wireless CarPlay, done!

Fantastic - how much did it cost?

I went for this one

https://www.taautoupgrades.com/product- ... arplay-box

Impressive work Foz

Very tempting - absolute bargain price!

They have just halved in price supposedly. There are full
Android head unit options but the BMW stuff is great, but as per the maps date badly and being able to use Siri to dictate messages and WhatsApp etc is great!

I will see how it is after some proper daily use and revert

Foz wrote: Sat Feb 13, 2021 5:40 pm They have just halved in price supposedly. There are full
Android head unit options but the BMW stuff is great, but as per the maps date badly and being able to use Siri to dictate messages and WhatsApp etc is great!

I will see how it is after some proper daily use and revert

yeah, please do. My Mrs has already suggested it would make a good Mother's Day present for her...!

You'll have to treble Sam's pocket money so he can afford it..!

I've been looking at this but it costs a silly amount for the old CCC idrive. I will stump up for it whenever I have my next big roadtrip though as it's worth it.

Mito Man wrote: Sat Feb 13, 2021 6:40 pm I've been looking at this but it costs a silly amount for the old CCC idrive. I will stump up for it whenever I have my next big roadtrip though as it's worth it.

yeah, my M3 was the CCC, it was pretty limiting, I ended up just putting a DAB module on it that pretended it was a CD changer.

I've been looking at it on the Jag but the kit is £550!

Probably will still do it though.

The older ones it’s best to use these... https://www.taautoupgrades.com/product- ... isplay-8-8

All the CCC cars are covered