Thanks.

I don't know what my career plans are and I do still like my current field. I've always been persuing my interests and my love of learning. If I knew what my career plans were it would be easier to decide on these things.

I would like to stay in the academic environment an intend to go on to research. It seems the most sensible option right now.

There's always the posibility of combining interests some time in the distant future. If say I went in to quantum computing. Even if I didn't, the kind of advanced mathematics which would be involved in a theoretical phsyics degree (and one of the unversities I looked at offers a combined theoretical phsyics & maths MPhys course) might itself help with many aspects of computing research such as the statistical modeling involved with the research that I'm applying to work on at the moment. Plus people with knowledge of other areas bring different ways of thinking to a subject. I could work on computer modeling of physics or physically-inspired metahuristics.

Of course this won't happen soon... I'm just wondering whether it'll be (A) later or (B) never.

When you abandon things to decide to just focus on your current career? A lot of people must have dreams that are entirely incompatable with what they're established in, such as starting a business or climbing mt. everest. *I* don't want to do either of those things. Does anyone here have these kinds of interests? Some people persue their dreams and others don't. Some people get left with regrets and others don't seem to mind.