I wasn't there either so I cannot really comment too much.
I have been to Popham many times in my old PA-28 and I have never, ever had less than a friendly reception.
The bit that I find fascinating is that OZ finds it necessary to tell us all that he has 10,000 hours and is a CAA R/T examiner.
I personally found the first 10,000 hours to be a bit of a learning curve and I would never have thought it relevant to mention that I was a CAA TRI/TRE and an FAA Check Airman just to reinforce my argument.
I obviously have still got a lot to learn when it comes to negotiating skills.