Hi Midiman,
I know the feeling, it can be hard to really believe that you can do it, and I guess sitting around at LHR watching planes take off and talking yourself into a funk won't help either.
I wouldn't give up so easily though. I'm 37 and had given up on things about ten years ago, for various reasons, and then had some sort of an epiphany last year and realised I could still make this happen. Doing contract humanitarian work all over the place these past years, and just wrapped up in Somalia. Heading home next week to finish the PPL and take it from there, one step at a time.
It won't be easy and I'll be throwing plenty of hard earned dollars at it (not worth a whole lot in the euro zone!), but for me personally I want to see how this plays out. I'll be contracting for a while yet to pay for it most likely, but so what. One of the other posters suggested talking to other pilots, and at least in my experience this has been a good thing to do. My big question to some guys I met last year was, am I too old to start this now - to a man (and woman too!) they said no, run with it, bearing in mind it'll be tough.
So if you're in the IT business, see about contracting, or get out of the UK and find a country where you can make some decent cash to pay for things. Try NGOs or the UN - they always need IT people. I know a guy who did just that some years back, started flying in his mid-thirties, and now flies a Challenger. Not too shabby. Another lad throwing baggage for years landed a right hand seat at a low cost airline, after much hard work.
I guess moving into it with your eyes open is about as much as any of us wannabees can do. Talk to as many people as you can. But keep trying, at least get a PPL and see how you feel after that. For the rest of you out there, wish us luck!