Hi Speedbird
Some good replies here, particularly from pups, scroggs and Mr Magoo. I've seen posts from them before and they talk a lot of sense.
I seem to spend hours in these forums justifying to myself why I was right (and I know I was right) to opt out of borrowing the cash to "go for it" at the last minute. I will probably only lay the ghost to rest when my mates all graduate and don't get jobs. Might feel a bit of a prune (excuse the pun) if an airline snaps them all up fresh from the champagne party.
My honest opinion - I've heard far too many stories of failure down this route to believe that things will all be fine if you just ignore the facts and take the gamble.
You know what? I'm seriously tempted by an article in one of the mags this week. Why don't we all just forget the stress and start enjoying our flying again? Air racing has got to be the way to go. You'd only need another 20 hours and then you can start the training! Great fun, and you get to keep your income (well, some of it!), go flying and still have your evenings and weekends free!
There's a lot of cussing of office jobs. Actually, being as it's summer, I quite like the 9-5 job I have now, because I get to lie in the sun of an evening sipping red wine and looking up at the boys and girls turning 090 towards Heathrow and think "You poor buggers!".
Remember Richard Branson's got an office job, and he gets to fly all the things he wants whenever he wants and still have money to spend in the bar.
Hope it all works out for you.