Slim slag - very well said.
We come to accept the way things are done here and take them in that context.
For example, this weekend I transited CAS twice. On both occasions I got the transit, but on both occasions I had to wait 5 to 10 minutes I guess. I also had to give the ATCO a little gentle encouragement. What was interesting is I could watch the inbounds he was working from my orbit on the edge of CAS. The inbounds were well spaced, visibility unlimited and no one else was transiting the zone. After encouragement on both occasions I routed above and behind the inbounds. In fact there was absolutely no reason for the delay in the first place. However, I was grateful because I got the transit (my comment about taking things in context). In both cases there was no obvious reason for the delay - it certainly would not have occurred in the States.
Moreover, how often do we get after requesting a zone transit - “remain outside of CAS, I will come back to you”. “Remain outside of CAS, you can expect a clearance within xx” would be far more helpful either in response or very shortly after the first call.
I appreciate these issues are slightly of thread but they typify some of the sentiments on this thread. Unfortunately the system appears to be polarised towards commercial traffic having absolute priority as opposed to there being a real effort to integrate all users within the system, and maybe whilst idealistic the bottom line is we all own the airspace and a bit like with real estate the right to roam is worth protecting.