Well done Shortypops,
Let me regale you with one of my many stories, which my have a tiny bit of relevence (though it sounds that you may have learned the same lesson recently)...
While waiting to do my solo cross country decades ago, I would ask my flying instructor if the weather was good enough. The answer was always, "no, it's not good enough". So I'd stay in the circuit, and rebook. One day, after a few circuits, in what seemed good weather, I asked him again... "no, it's not good enough". Then another instructor wispered in my ear: "check the weather yourself". So I did. It was reported and forecast as fine all over. I returned to my instructor moments later, and infomed him of my findings.... "Great, then you should go and fly your solo cross country then...", and I did. All he had wanted as for me to assert myself, within the scope of my evolving authority as PIC.
I understand that you cannot send yourself first solo, but you can do all things within your scope to set the stage for success. Perhaps your first instructor had a good reason for your not going solo, I have no way of knowing. There's no good reason for insulting you by being late, or chatting/texting on his phone while you're paying by the hour though.
It sounds like you're on the right track now.
I am completing a masters degree at the moment, so this PPL is purely for fun and to kill off some boredom during the week
... worries me just a little though...
The sky does not know if you're up "just to kill off boredom", or because you're taking aviation very serioulsy, and, it does not care. Those of us who have been doing this for a while will expect it to be evident that you are taking flying seriously, to enter our fraterinty and fly our planes. I admit, I trained for my PPLH because I was a little bored with fixed wing, but I had decades of taking it very seriously behind me. Though there are just plain fun flights, they're not all that way, and you must apply serious devotion to piloting every flight. Don't take it lightly.... Those of us who've been here a while don't...