"Full of spotters & met geeks"...
Ahh those were the days I remember it well. The staff car park full of rusty Ford Cortinas littered with chip wrappers.
None of your fancy designer briefcases then. BEA flightbags stuffed with sandwiches binoculars & notebooks. Of course there was always some flash git who had a pan am one.
Having to search for 20 minutes to find your coat at the end of shift after a non spotter had rearranged all the identical anoraks on different coat pegs.
As for the met geeks. Without them we were nothing. They made us appear almost normal by comparison.
Spotters are still here although some are ex-spotters these days. I think it will be a sad day if ATC ever becomes the exclusive preserve of "future managers" whose only interest in the job is the money.
As for the met geeks, I don't think there's any question that the quality of met observation is not up to the same standard as than before. And I think that the ATSA's who had the task forced upon them would agree.
There are so many whose own insecurity forces them to dismiss genuine enthusiasm in whatever field as being sad, unless it involves sport or getting very drunk. Well it's your loss. Pity you couldn't find a job doing something you liked as much.
"light blue touch paper & retire...."