Hi Ben,
Sorry to hear about your eye troubles and good luck sorting them out. On the exams and stuff, I've always found education a good investment because it gives you a much wider choice of what you can do, so I'm sure it won't be wasted time whatever career you choose.
For the R/T exam, there's a good example of what to expect in the CAA's safety sense leaflet which you can find
here . Try not to worry about it too much - it's not a doddle, but if you can handle Elstree and you've read your CAP 413 then it shouldn't be a problem. I thought I'd really made a total hash of mine but still managed to pass!
Know what you mean about Elstree Info - they certainly used to be really bolshy but in the past year or so seem to have mellowed a bit. A couple of weeks ago managed to vacate 08 at A rather than B as I'd been cleared by the controller who gets all the stick - oops! Nipped in to the control tower to apologise and he was as pleasant as could be. I know Cabair's a bit of a walk away, but if you get a chance, pay them a courtesy call - well worth the time spent to see what they do and to put faces to the voices. Wait till the weather's bad and they'll probably be delighted to have somebody to talk to.
Cheers,
Wrong Stuff