I'm back working in the city, following completion of my training. For me personally, this has been a perfect illustration of both the need for and relief of having, a good backup plan. Alright, I'm very fortunate in that I have 15 years of [relatively] senior business management behind me, so I don't have debt either. As good a place to be as a newbie can hope for at the moment I'd say.
However, whilst a sidenote I'd reiterate to anyone looking to train right now, what I really wanted to say is that my gut feel - based on my experience of the city - is that there is a cautious optimism starting to return. I repeat, this is my opinion and not based on any facts, but generally working in the city, you do develop a reasonable feel for this.
This is a modicum of sunshine in an otherwise gloomy prognosis, but as twinaisle and GSB state, there is a long, long hill to climb back to anything like prosperity. Further, I have experience in general business, but not the aviation world - one thing which is very clear is that there are certain rules and idiosyncrasies that effect aviation, that won't apply in the field of my experience, thereby reducing what one can take from it.