I always complained about this when I was a child too, I hated getting the VHS cassette tapes a year after the American airing. The final straw was when Sky One started to show Voyager episodes BEFORE The VHS cassette releases. This was so unfair as I did not have Sky TV, instead relying on saving up my pocket money (and sometimes school dinner money - I even skipped lunches to get them!) for VHS cassette’s. Now all my friends at school could watch all of the latest episodes before me, luckily they didn’t give me any spoilers. Ah well!
So it wasn't just ne saving up my pocket money to go to HMV or WHSmith in town to pick up that months Voyager release