Dickon,
I have just read through this thread.
I bit of honest and harsh advice. Take it for what it is worth or ignore it, at your peril. No responsible operator will go near you if you could not be bothered to do the JAA conversion. A comment like you made above about it being too much work to be bothered with will damn you in perpetuity. Operators want people who rise to the challenge and are prepared to work.
The best thing you could do is the JAA exams ASAP and don't ever make a comment like your one above again!
MM