Hi Pen!
First time I have posted here for a while as well! Great to hear that you are enjoying life as an instructor! It surely is fabulous - I started with a view to gaining some hours for that seemingly fabulous airline job! But! I loved it so much I actually abandoned that ambition for the time being! I've been living in Florida for the past three years, and working for a well known US FTO whom I will not mention here. I have recently gone through the process, and become the newest JAA FIC instructor in the USA! Its been a great life for me, and I love it. In over 2000 instructional hours I have yet to see an real alternator failure, so that would be a novelty! I have however experienced the usual plethora of comms failures, aircraft on the runway, sick students, hideous weather, commercial pressure, burn out, fatigue, and one devastating accident which changed the way I look at aviation for ever. I have been blessed with some great students, private, commercial, instrument, and Instructors - experienced the ultimate buzz of sending a student first solo - as well as the nemesis of waking up and thanking god that I don't have to fly today! 99% I thank god for the priviledge of allowing me to live my dream everyday - just experience the final approach to runway 27 at Ft Pierce at sunset without saying a quiet thank you!
Good luck Pen, when the days get long and tiring, just pinch yourself and say thanks - its wonderful!
Iain.