Originally Posted by
scifi
I had never done orbits before
Err, Exercise 9, Medium Level Turns; Exercise 14, First Solo. Something missing there. But no-one should be sent first solo if they're likely to be held up or given non-standard clearances by ATC. Someone died at (Southend?) a few years ago when that happened.
As to the clearance etc, it's very different at military airfields where aircraft in the visual circuit are expected to separate themselves from other traffic with often only general information on the whereabouts of that other traffic. And you can have aircraft doing a visual run and break when there's also IFR traffic on the approach.