thanking you pips for your comments. its really handy sharing these PhD pains.I totally agree with what you said sixkitten about time, its like after work, which is only a few hours a week i am thinking; goodness i must get back to it such that i feel guilty about doing other stuff and then the dosh issue, once that runs out and you havent finished that is another prob! motivation is big business. Bluelife your idea occured to me a while ago, cause iwas thinking at least i dont have to think about the future for now; i have an occupation; i am a fulltime PhD student, that is enough for the next few years. it might be daunting to finish because then you will have to step into the real world where you might be something else less credible!