£200? You might be able to get a second hand DSLR for that, which for photography is, well, excellent. And on the plus, when you CBA, you can use it in auto mode. I can't see anything wrong with either of those cameras though.
Thinner strings are good for learning, as they're easier to bend. Careful you don't snap them putting them on though. Ernie Ball, D'addario, Rotosound, all do decent electric strings.
One trick with rims, although you need them built for this, is to spray them whilst they spin. The rotating helps against runs. You could hook up a radiator if you ave one, an electrical one to speed up the drying process.
The 100% best thing they could do for discouraging twats on motorbikes is to make a test compulsory for all sizes of bikes. Motorbikes, as well as having less emissions than a car, are a shitload more efficient, cause they're lighter, for a start. So surely that means cheaper tax?
It is a little known not-quite-fact that if there were no cars, and only motorbikes, there would be less motorbike accidents. Stupid.. I mean, cool, I can tax my fiat for free, but not on the penalty that motorbike riders pay for it.