Whirlies, both the original and the multi tasking one..
Thanks for your answers. So the general feeling of doom and gloom appears real.
Having spent a good number of years working in IT (started at 18, now 37), the time has come to look at something else. The IT world is not pretty either. I have no real need to earn a packet, enough to live on really. I have funds available to take me through to a CPL(H), which would take a couple of years I guess (working at the same time too). Ironically, when leaving school I had the option to join the forces as a pilot, I went into IT instead. Always wondered if it was a bad move.
So, planning ahead a few years - perhaps an FI rating is a way to earn enough to live on and simply enjoy myself in the process. Or get a lucky break at some point in the future. Whirlybird, yes, what you say does make sense to me. Enjoying a job can easily take priority over what you paid for it.
The Heli situation seems a bit like the IT world. It is full of people who have done courses, passed exams and come away with paperwork to say they can do a job. However, get a fair number of them to actually do it and it shows a very different picture, they have no idea. The difference is a good number of people do not have to pay a thing for their training in IT, they all think it pays a fortune. Just look at the TV ads which run in the UK offering distance learning IT courses.
I enjoy helis, always have. I have had a couple of lessons from different people - to try and get an idea if I have any ability to do it (apparently, I do).
More research, spreadsheets (very scary numbers on these) and thinking about possible directions...
Thanks for the responses so far.