An awful lot of replies but to a degree think some are missing the point, whilst it would be better to join a club think he's saying that's pointless because the Mrs will have the car that he'd use to get there and if he's off flying she won't neccassarily want to be sitting at home with no transport and the kids, easier to take then to the pool or some thing. Also whilst I can nip round the corner to a field do 3 batterines and be back within hour which is acceptable outage at a weekend if I started taking whole afternoons / days out of family time it'd probably cost me loads in the bedroom !!!!!! Most clubs as well don't want someone rushing my, jumping the queque to fly next doing 3 batterines in a row then pack everything in the car and leave, don't get me wrong when I retired and the kids have left home I'll probably happily spend 3/4 of my time at a club, chatting with the guys about their planes / experiences and would love to watch / learn from other people flying but simply don't have the time at the moment
Get yourself FMS Simulator at th same time as you get either a HobbyZone Super Cub (which I learnt on) or have a look at some of the Multiplex Trainers, I haven't flown their trainers but have had the MiniMag which I'd look at as a second plane and as one other person said Elapor is relatively strong and their products do seem good / quality.
Don't try to fly on your own until you can EASILY take off and land having flown several circuits almost without thinking about it on the simulator and it will still be different when you fly rthe real thing and there's wind etc my first couple of attempts just went skyward and then realised it was the trim and even having corrrecte that lost the plane behind me in the wind to the extent just though head down or planes gone and managed to land it in a tree (no real damage) !!!!!!
Good luck, if I can do it no reason why you can't but it is a lot more testing of your patience alone and if you can join a club would still recommend it !!!!