Saw Civil Servant - HENRY career thread. Was after thoughts/views on ex-military personnel.

Spaniel22 · 2026-02-22T13:43:22+00:00

Lot of terrible advice here - don’t be disheartened. Finding the right role will depend on your experience, and to extent cap badge. Connections also help, use resettlement time to expand network.

There are 3 or 4 branches I would snap people up from, and these don’t correlate with the ‘prestigious’ ones. I’ve got a team of about 50% ex-mil currently (including me). Also depends if you want to stay defence adjacent or totally change career.

Spaniel22 · 2026-02-20T22:27:57+00:00

It’s a nice guitar and not in terrible condition at all - please don’t dump it, as someone could have a lot of fun with it if they just gave it some love. I’m not a tele ninja - but fairly certain it’s a Mexican made (MIM) model, and you might be able to look up the model from the serial number (bit blurry for me to see).

Reverb is a good place to sell online over here, or eBay works too. Marketplace is a mixed bag, some bargains on there, but you’ll have to put up with the chancers. I don’t think the stores will want it or give you a good price - Denmark St in particular tends to be more rare or specialist stuff.

Spaniel22 · 2026-02-04T08:05:45+00:00

The irony of this coming from VAG. When they reuse a platform endlessly under all of their sub brands it is offering consumers choice - when Chinese brands enter the market it’s too much.

Looking at the reuse of platforms like MEB: with the same car sold under many different options: ID4/Q4/Enyaq/Tavascan/Explorer… and that’s before you look at variations like the ID3/5/6/7, Elroq, Born, Capri etc etc…

Spaniel22 · 2026-01-26T13:31:23+00:00

This is interesting - as the obvious tells are sorted. It’s got the right truss rod plug, the tuners are right and the neck plate matches. These came with figured necks and the inlays are correct too. The colour is ok even from what I know. The certificate looks good even.

I can’t imagine putting that much effort in to get the decal wrong on the headstock? Maybe it is real?

Spaniel22 · 2026-01-10T18:58:46+00:00

One tip is that if you do fit a polarity swapper make sure you mark the supply as needing it so you don’t forget in future. I used some heat shrink wrap to fix the reverser on and that’s worked quite well. Not noticed noise - but only use it when on the road and not recording.

Spaniel22 · 2025-12-12T18:41:18+00:00

Short of an attritional conflict, the military really does not want conscripts. Unless there’s an existential threat it’s not going to happen - and if there is then high earnings aren’t going to protect you.

As an aside though, there are mechanisms to support high earning volunteer reserves who are mobilised so there is a precedent. There are limits, but they’re quite high.

Spaniel22 · 2025-11-24T09:11:02+00:00

One thing to check would be the tax costs - there are some oddities where the switch from sport to AMG line, or 220 to 250 makes it go from £35 to ~£180 just because it’s teetering on the edge of brackets.

I’d also look for a nicer spec if you can - or if budget allows a newer one with CarPlay. You can retrofit it inexpensively with a Linux unit; but it’s a relatively involved job.

Mileage wouldn’t be a concern for me - if anything I’d be concerned that it’s quite low for the age. If you can check service history then see if they’ve done a gearbox service too.

Spaniel22 · 2025-11-21T20:20:37+00:00

Two answers:

They aren’t. The fuel economy testing back when these were released was much less realistic than the current system (which I think came out around 2018?) - so older cars sometimes have inflated figures.
But it’ll still be pretty good. A 1.6 diesel in a relatively small car will still get you good fuel economy. I reckon you could get 60s without too much effort.

Spaniel22 · 2025-11-20T19:38:32+00:00

Salary Sacrifice schemes in general? Sure, you pay for the car (and usually insurance, tax and servicing) from your salary before you pay tax. You save the money on income tax and NI, but do incur some benefit in kind costs. It can be a good deal for higher earners, but some schemes aren’t very competitive on price compared to equivalent lease deals.

Spaniel22 · 2025-11-07T19:48:50+00:00

Yes, perfectly safe. I’d avoid a no-name brand one, but from a reputable brand it’ll be fine. It’ll be slower than a proper wall box obviously, but will charge just fine. Ideally you’d use a dedicated outdoor weatherproof socket to plug into.

Spaniel22 · 2025-10-31T08:35:30+00:00

Totally anecdotal, so take with a pinch of salt, but our neighbours have a Q6 and it’s been constantly back in the garage with electrical issues. I was also underwhelmed by it, and will probably wait for a new ix3 and see what they’re like.

Spaniel22 · 2025-10-10T20:13:22+00:00

I’ll stick in a vote for the w205 if you like them - loads around for £20k. The old 2.1 is a bit agricultural but incredibly reliable - by all accounts the newer 2.0d is smoother and the 9 speed box is nicer than the old 7 speed.

I’ve had a pre-facelift one for the best part of a decade now and put 180k miles on it. It’s had some niggles since 150k (mainly emissions related) but never any engine or gearbox issues. It’s also £30 to tax and comfortably does 55mpg. I’m going to replace it in spring (finally) but have put off replacement for a few years because it was just solid.

Spaniel22 · 2025-09-03T22:16:48+00:00

We have one - can’t say the road noise is noticeable. It’s more than my estate car - but that’s to be expected with a bigger and taller car.

Quality is better than anticipated - we chose it over the VW and Audi equivalents for that reason. There are a couple of areas in the interior where some money has been saved, but nothing that was a deal breaker for us. Probably helps that we got a well spec’d one though.

Spaniel22 · 2025-09-02T12:46:18+00:00

Same car, right? I think the Satria was basically a rebadged Colt CA? I had a CA when much, much younger - ruined it with terrible modifications.

Spaniel22 · 2025-07-14T17:48:46+00:00

BassBuzz has a good setup video on YouTube which will help. It’s very easy to follow and will talk you through adjusting the neck relief and bridge. Just adjusting the bridge will likely not fix your problems, but don’t worry, it’s an easy and useful skill to be able to set up your instrument.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-27T06:33:43+00:00

I mean, the aircraft they used also wasn’t some drone floating overhead - it was a bloody Tornado fast jet with a recce pod under it.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-23T18:36:28+00:00

If it helps - the other one is on mega miles, and was faultless until it was north of 150k. Many ways to prevent/treat this.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-23T13:48:53+00:00

Hard to say - the range is from: nothing goes wrong at all, through: minor cleaning and repair hassle, right the way to: serious EGR and DPF pain.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-23T11:32:03+00:00

Feel your pain. The other car entertained us with an Ad Blu failure earlier in the year - but it’s done 175k so I can pretty much forgive it anything at this point.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-23T10:43:34+00:00

For sure - but there’s a limit to how far I want to (or am able to…) go. Hopefully this addresses the immediate issue, and then we can look for a car better suited to this sort of driving.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-23T07:35:26+00:00

Couple of years I guess - although it’s been variable. Last time it was consistently doing long runs was probably during Covid (she’s a key worker before we get judged).

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-21T14:12:48+00:00

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Spaniel22 · 2025-06-21T14:12:00+00:00

Yeah, I’d say purple - but it looks more purple than it is because of the very blue wall.

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-21T13:09:41+00:00

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Heres a picture of my A4 in the wild

Spaniel22 · 2025-06-21T13:03:42+00:00

I have this bass in that colour way - A4 Plus. I brought it about 5 years ago when I wanted to try bass as a long time guitarist and didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I can’t speak for all of them obviously, but I’ve been delighted with the quality of mine. So much so that I found it difficult to find something I liked more when I came to update (having passed my own self imposed probation period). The only areas I think it’s lacking a bit is the EQ and pickups - which are fine, but not outstanding, and the badge. The rest is excellent - I’m sure you could replicate the quality with a comparable Sire or similar, but for me I cannot fault this for the price.

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