Good advice about the not paying up front. However, on the weather front, just about to have my 4th flight in a row cancelled due to the weather this evening, and I'm in Sussex.
Perhaps I need to move to Scotland if your weather is better up there!
There was a thread recently from a guy who was doing his PPL training and was talking about how many lessons he has had cancelled since starting due to the weather. He was several months in but only had a few hours under his belt due to the weather. Stupid damn country!