hawk_eye,
your post goes a long way to explaining why those little aero clubs
that used to be scattered around the "kickatinalong" towns who
perhaps, if they were lucky, trained a dozen pilots a year, are no
longer there.
I occasionally watch the odd Tube videos of pilots out and about
their country sides of their countries, having fun with their flying machines
doing all sorts of fun things that would simply not be allowed here, or be
made so expensive nobody would bother.
I believe that's a part of why the industry is so much in decline, the
regulator has taken the fun out of it.