I'm Andy Watts, I'm retired and I live in Salisbury which is a medieval Cathedral City in the south of England. The Cathedral is over 800 years old and has a 404 feet spire. It is also famous for housing an original copy of The Magna Carta as well as the oldest working mechanical clock in the world, which dates from about 1386.
We also have a popular market here on Saturdays and Tuesdays which is always busy. It’s a great place to buy your fruit and veg as well as all sorts of other local produce.
I've lived here for almost 20 years and used to run a small business called Salisbury Computer Repairs. I mainly dealt with home computer users and enjoyed sorting out their PC problems, whether it be a software issue, a virus or a broken laptop screen.
I really enjoyed running the business but decided to take early retirement at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At around the time that I closed my business, I moved to a small retirement flat on the edge of the city and couldn't be happier.
I'm also lucky enough to be within walking distance of a lovely nature trail called Broken Bridges, which runs from Lower Bemerton to Harnham. It's a great place for wildlife spotting and I regularly see swans, Canada geese, egrets and the occasional heron.
Retirement Hobby – Amateur Radio
Since taking retirement, I've become interested in the amateur radio hobby again. I first became licensed back in the 1990s but lost interest for quite a while.
I've recently rediscovered packet radio and am learning about the amateur packet reporting system (APRS).
Salisbury is a bit of an RF black spot, as it's mostly surrounds by hills, but I can receive a digipeater in Southampton called MB7UUV.
I’ve recently been granted permission to erect a 145MHz aerial so things are looking up on the radio front…
Thanks for reading.
Andy Watts – Retired from Salisbury