I'm a private fly-for-fun pilot; I'm not in the air transport game
Me too, I've never flown a person for hire (other than jumpers in the 185 and 206).
the personal air transport game.
Ah, there's the difference. I like to put my wife, two Bromptons, and a bit of baggage in my 150, and set off for a far away place (Toronto to Freeport Bahamas, for example. Landing and a picnic on the beach along the way). I like loading the Teal with enough camping gear for a few days in a remote lake somewhere. I choose and use planes that way, and I enjoy flying them.
I suspect many UK PPLs also fly for pure pleasure rather than more practical reasons.
And that's fine too. Sometimes I take the 150 up for a half hour of loops and rolls, and never get more than two miles from home. They are certainly compromise loops and rolls, but they keep my skills sharp for test flying I do in even more poor handling aircraft. I don't loop and roll, nor even spin the Teal - that's not what it was designed to do. That's it's compromise.
But generally, I use each plane the way is was intended to be used by it's manufacturer - neither was built to be nostalgic. When I last flew the Tiger Moth, I felt very nostalgic, but I did not take it more than gliding distance from the airport - I know much too much about Gypsy engines for that! The circuit was my compromise, 'cause that's what that plane was designed to do. I would fly it further, if someone else came along bringing more oil.
Yes, I have a diesel car. 143,000 km, and yes, I have never added any oil since I bought it - indeed, I can't remember the last time I opened the hood. No one sees my drive by in my VW wagon, and has a nostalgic thought. I don't care, it gets me where I want to go, carrying all my people and stuff dependably. I remember being offered an MG to drive a while back. Ooo, this will be fun, I though to myself. Not really, it was a horrible ride, with terrible cornering. My VW Golf would have out performed it in every regard other than nostalgia. For my nostalgia fix, I have 1100 Dinky, Corgi and Matchbox Toys on display in my office. There were companies who knew how to make a quality product for a mass market - but now kids want toys to watch, not push.....