Thanks Speedlover & fuzzylumpkin.. all sorted.. I did indeed use Opera VPN... its one of the simplest apps ive ever used...
In case anyone else is interested:
Just d/l from Play store, boot it up, change region to Germany (I thought best to use an EU country rather that Canada), Check for Updates... and start download...
However, Speedlover was right, as soon as download starts.. disconnect the VPN and it downloads in seconds instead of hours through the VPN.
Then I did a factory reset and wipe cache in the recovery to reset and return my phone to UK..
All is good
Thanks
