Thanks everyone for your responses, apologies that I seem to have started a bickering match which certainly wasn't the intention.
For the record I always talk to whichever ATC unit I am flying in the area of and wouldn't criticise them - even in the original post I alluded to the fact the ATCO may have been talking to other frequencies.
To clarify, plan A was to descend and transit VFR under the Class D, the hoped for zone clearance at FL55 was always Plan B. Penetrating without clearance was never an option ! With the zone boundary coming up it was clear that I was unlikely to get a clearance, all I needed was a little help and reassurance that following plan A wasn't going to land me on top of someone. I am sorry that on this occasion to get this comfort I ended up adding to the pressure that the ATCO was operating under.
Learning curve for me is that 'Contact' doesn't mean exactly what I thought it did.