I did it! After almost forty years of dreaming about flying and not being able to afford it, I've actually passed my skills test this afternoon at Barton. No winds and high cloud made this the perfect day to take it, and for once everything fell into place...Now the learning starts in earnest, after a few small glasses of brandy of course. Incidentally if anyone needs a good instructor, I can personally recommend at least four of them at Barton.
I'm very grateful to poetpilot for allowing the use of his aircraft for the occasion, the next available date was late next Saturday and I'd have gone round the bend waiting that long
Many thanks also for all the hints and tips displayed on this forum, the advice was very valuable and helped a lot. The most practical tip was "take a bottle of water along" since as soon as I got into the aircraft my mouth started to imitate the Gobi desert (nomads, camels etc.)
Now for the form-filling and waiting...