Ok, pompous post here
It's amazing how many people, when they know you fly and have a ppl, immediately latch onto the cost aspect.
Nobody EVER thinks about the hours and hours of study for the theory exams that you had to put in, or the commitment it takes to obtain your PPL whilst holding down a day job.
Similarly, although I'm not rich by any stretch of the imagination but I am comfortable, when ever anybody sees my car or the houses I rent out (at a great loss actually!) everybody latches onto that and thinks how rich I must be rather than the hours, and hours of overtime and the 7 day weeks I worked took to get there.
I started out from comprehensive school on free school meals and with free school uniform but got to where I am through bloody mindedness and fookin hard work.
What I'm trying to say is maybe the problem with society is that everybody is so impressed by and focused on the result but nobody really concentrates on the work that it takes to get there. Which is ironic because it's the work that is in everybody's control. I get, by the time people have maybe come to realise that the prime opportunities may have already passed behind them.