Ok I am not far away from submitting (I hope ! ), anyway when my funding first ran out last year I moved back to my parents to write my thesis, while I was doing this I must have applied for at least 100 jobs, you know the usual types of job, first postdoc positions (could not get one as I dont have enough experience) and then graduate jobs ( could not get one as I was too experienced), to be honest it was nice to get a reply at all from the ones I applied for. Anyway getting sick of applying for these positions I decided to apply for a postman job ( I should add that I did not mention my qualifications in my application), and I got it ! and to be honest I am that sick of getting rejected for so called PhD and graduate level positions, that I am seriously thinking about just sticking with the postman job.
I never really wanted to do a PhD or any of my degree's so that I could get a high paid job, I did them so that I could learn about my subject, especially first degree, and get a job I enjoyed doing. Now that I don't think I can get the type of job that I originally did my degrees for, I just dont think I can be bothered to continue looking for or indeed like doing a job in industry or academia. At the minute a job like a postman is quite attractive to me, enough money to get by, no pressure, no stress, set times of work, out in the fresh air and meeting people instead of being stuck in an office in front of a computer. I guess all this rejection I have experienced in the job market has made me look for alternative careers and from what I see these have a lot more benefits (money aside) than the so called high paid careers.

So I think I will go through my viva, really not that bothered if I pass or not, and then put it all behind me.