'TonyBlair' -- Touche! I have, though, fitted in plenty of 'proper' work, just, couldn't quite squeeze a full fATPL into the diary and frankly I'm glad, I'd have missed out on so much else, not least of all some pretty hair-raising cross-country PPL flying.
My point was that for some people just past 26, we haven't necessarily spent the last several years perpetually re-applying, wasting away in some other career, or on the dole or breeding like rabbits. I'm still a commitment-free blank canvass ready to be brainwashed. I'm surely less of a risk than a 19-year old as I've already done everything else that might possibly tempt me to drop out of flight training or an airline job.
'Hoping', thanks... I hadn't thought of the "how come this sudden devotion to a career in aviation?" issue... I reckon I can speak to that given a chance to appear for interview, though. The masters took 2 years as I did an applied project, the sabbatical just 1 year... during which I pioneered the use of budget airlines by student unions sending officers to conferences!!