You're not joking Nick it was a complete baptism of fire and you learn as you go extremely quickly!! You are right about the hours, but I had about 700ish at that time and if you're flying for a private owner as far as I am aware there is no restriction as long as the insurance company are happy.
It wasn't all bad, in fact there were a lot of really great times, but when it all starts to go wrong, i.e. weather, tech probs etc it can get pretty intense, but fantastic training for the bigger and faster stuff.
Cheers
