Well I've let this thread run a while now without interference as an interesting experiment. It has been an illuminating and informative thread, hasn't degenerated into a flame war and it is a credit to all who have contributed. Special thanks to LukeSkyToddler.
I am making this thread a sticky in the hope that many Wannabes will read it early in their career planning.
My two cents is this. Airline hiring and the wider flying jobs market is fantastic at the moment. My company, easyJet, hired 450 pilots in the last 12 months alone and similar numbers are in the pipeline for next year and the year after. In 1998 when I became the first PPRuNe Wannabe I doubt there were 450 new jobs in the entire UK airline industry. Today school are crying out for instructors, regional airlines are desperate to keep hold of pilots, low cost airlines need hundreds of new pilots every year and the flag carriers have all hired in the last 12 months and will do so again soon. IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS. Which means it will sometime in the future get worse. Probably a lot worse. So dry your eyes Princess - you've never had it so good.