thing,
No, it's not just you.
The UK ban on VFR on top may have had something to do with the prevalence of banks of stratus at low level in the UK due to frontal systems making it very unlikely once on top you could get back down. Certainly that was a major factor in my decision to get an IMCR which if anything is more use in the summer - low cloud but no icing risk - than the winter.
Tim