I think I hit a motivational slump at about 10-15 hours as well. I had no fear at all until about 5 hours, then it dawned on me I was not really being taught to fly so much as how to deal with the emergencies. At 10-15 hours I was now educated to the dangers but also aware of how inadequate I *still* was.
I did my PPL in a bit of a rush, 'cos I was scared I'd spend my windfall on something more 'acceptable' - but I know lots of people doing it more slowly, and doing it fine.
I didn't get to fly for lots of my bookings, for the same sorts of reasons, and I agree that there are ways of ameliorating this - calling the club to check before getting on the road being the best.
I still scratch around 50% of my sorties - even in the bleedin' summer. As a result, I still tend to leap even at the boring 'I'll fly you over your house' mission - but at 155 hours TT I'm getting less keen on these.
With regards to spending all my time around airfields and aircraft, and my better half complaining about it - I can't comment.
AFAIC she can lump it........
Steve R