After 4 hours in the hairdresser's I'm now sort of ash/champagne blonde!
My hairdresser deserves a medal, my scalp (after 3 applications of "stuff") is just about ok, Mr P has got used to it, it looks fine with my skin tone, it will be much cheaper to maintain, and (bless her) she only charged me "mates rates" ! 
I really think I've made the right decision, should save a lot of money, time and bother, with the change over to grey.
Although, when funds allow, I may treat myself to some sort of stuff to put temporary streaks in, pink,blue, purple? I gather you can get sort of crayons or chalk?