I can't agree with GrobQueen more: In my case it was in 1970 that I was getting used to my firat research job having recently graduated. I was drinking after hours in the back bar of my local and wondering if there was anything more in life than work and drinking beer. On that evening I was chatting to the landlord - a qualified flying instructor and told him that I was thinking of learning to fly. "I am warning you," he said: "It's like a drug - once you have caught it it will never let you go." He was of course quite right: PPL preceded IMC then Night rating then QFI, then CPL, I.R. and finally ATPL. I have retired now due to illness, but it gave me a very fulfilled lifetime and eventually it even became a job much better than the teaching I found myself doing. If I state that the pub is called the White Lion, not far from EGBB then quite a few readers will know who I am talking about!
P.P.