Tiger Moth, you really must get in touch with someone in the PFA who will teach you some of the REAL facts of life. I really cant imagine how you, and many others like you, can be in aviation for so long without finding out about the PFA. Does your flying School / Club / Instructor deliberately misdirect you so that you never hear about it?
Don`t think about owning your own aircraft. Think about owning a share in an aircraft. With a group up to about six people there is not too much problem about whose turn it is. Gliders you don`t want more than three as you tend to fly for longer in a glider(on a good day)(if its your turn)(if you are good enough)(if your wife hasn`t arranged for you to visit dear old Auntie Bertha)(if the winch is working)( if the RAF hasn`t decided that it may want to drop paratroops)(if you aren`t suffering from Motezumas Revenge)
Once you have your licence flying can be cheap, as long as you don`t insist on fast and furious aircraft and you share. I own one third of a Skylark 4 Glider and one sixth of an Ogar Motor Glider. Total value- about £3 - 4000. Forget the fancy cars too ( I know you havent got one) I have just bought a new car. It has 115000 miles on the clock and cost less than what my Son-in-Law paid for a service on his Porsche.
Finally, single seaters are a third of the price of two seaters and can fly well on the limited power of a VW derived engine.
Mike W