I walked into a company at west palm beach with no warning and asked them to hire a R22 with instructor to pole around the local area, and even though they were fully booked, they moved things around and made it happen, 30 mins later we were flying.
try that in the UK and they will be sucking through their teeth before the excuses start. maybe I was just lucky too, dont think so though.
I'm afraid there is no way someone would publish such a detailed, long and well thought out post without having a serious agenda or axe to grind, on behalf of themselves or someone else. Especially if they are as new to the scene as claimed
nobody really new would be quite so eloquent, and as usual it was there first post under a new name.