Gittens Stuff

I like... Photography. I originally took an interest in photography in my early teens and did a fair bit of 35mm work (black and white initially, then colour transparencies) in my 20‘s and 30’s. However, when the digital age dawned my interest was re-kindled and I now enjoy taking photos of landscapes and nature. Click HERE to see a slideshow of some of my work.

I like... Computing and gadgets. I was fascinated by the first computer I got my hands on (an early Apple II) and saved up until I could afford the one I wanted - a BBC model B. It had a 2 MHz 8 bit processor, 32 Kb of memory and could display in 16 colours, pathetic by today's standards. I later added a floppy disc drive to replace the cassette tape system and learned to program. Importantly it also had ADC input so I designed a weather station and wrote the software to automatically measure and record weather data (light and temperatures). I have since bought a semi-professional weather station (Davis), the data from which is shown elsewhere on this site.

I like.... Aviation. My interest in aviation goes back to my early years when I had a pleasure flight while on holiday in Great Yarmouth. Twenty or so years later I learned to fly a glider at Witham-on-the-Hill. From that point gliding became part of my life for over 20 years, the latter part at P&SGC near Crowland. The quietness and challenge of persuading Mother Nature to give up enough energy to keep me aloft was both addictive and rewarding. I have flown a few other aircraft types - including a helicopter once - and even made a few parachute jumps, but nothing matched the exhilaration of flying a glider.