Thanks for the help! None of my friends cycle unfortunately (very, very few people cycle where I live), so I'm kind of on my own on this one. I'm hoping that once I get the hang of it I will convince my girlfriend to learn and start cycling to work too.

I definitely plan to stick to it - I deliberately bought a slightly pricier bicycle rather than the cheapest one I came across, because that way I would be motivated to not give up practicing in order to justify my spending.

How about the rear rack question? Can I buy any rear basket knowing that it will fit to the rack that is fixed to my bike, or do I need to go for a specific size or model?