as one who lives in the extreme east, it's also been a big expense for me. it might be essex but no, it's not near london
i don't begrudge any of it either, i knew what i was getting into before i went for it and budgeted for it all based at a higher fuel price.
doing Oulton at the height of the petrol/diesel prices was a sorry time on the pocket, but unless you live in peterborough then you have to trek a fair bit to at least one of the circuits no matter where you live, it's just part of it all