Floreat gens togata

[pozorvlak]

I see that Londoners have chosen the devil they don't know in place of the devil they do. I shall observe my fellow KS's future performance with considerable interest, and at a distance of several hundred miles

Comments

[metamoof]

And there was me thinking from the title that you were going down to the old Alma Mater.

...Which incidentally, I am doing next week for the School Play. Scarily enough, it's been 10 years!

[pozorvlak]

Terrifying, isn't it?

[metamoof]

I'm not sure which is scarier - that it's 10 years since we left school, or that this year's leavers are children of the 90's.

[nou]

My Oxford info is all a bit out of date. I liked living in Marston - it's perhaps not an obvious area to look at, but you've got a very nice walk/cycle into the science area from there, and there's even a Cycle Path Flood Monitor to help you figure out if you need to get the bus instead.

[figg]

(I added you from random prog articles, but oddly enough I can be of some help here)

I found plenty of places using gumtree in the three different places I lived last year - but those were all single rooms.

There is always room around wood farm/masons road because the entire area is a shithole. Avoid it like the plague, same goes for temple crowley.

Marston is a nice area, but walking home uphill gets tiresome quickly. Relatively reasonable.

Jericho is a fantastic place to live, wonderful and scenic, but woefully serviced by amenities and buses. If you can get somewhere near the canal you will never want to leave. V. Expensive.

St Clements is a nice place, but expensive ish, but excellent access to stores and stuff. Same goes for the north end of Cowley road.

The Top of headington hill is relatively cheap and well serviced, but the nightlife is much futher into town, but you have easy access to the london buses. It is also the only place with a 24 hour shop within walking distance.

[necaris]

Good summary! I'd add that places to the west, past the train station (i.e. Botley Rd), are reasonably well-connected transport-wise and deceptively close to the centre.

[half_of_monty]

Oh yes, and Botley Road may now be offering lower rents, after last year's floods!

[totherme]

I made use of the daily info once or twice...

[susannahf]

seconded.
Before I got a room in Wellington Square (they offer them less than a month before moving date), I used Daily Info, and found some promising places. I would suggest putting a free ad in "Rooms wanted" (I got quite a few responses), and going through "Rooms offered" regularly. However, it's worth noting that Daily Info rooms tend to be for immediate, or near-immediate takeup.
Also, email the prospective MCR and ask them to put a request on the list. I know Keble MCR will do this, and I think people do find rooms/flatmates this way.

[necaris]

Thirded -- I've found Daily Info great for that. I also agree that they tend to be fairly short notice but you can find a lot of appealing adverts that have some time left before they need to be filled, and you can try to get to know the housemates a bit (which IMO is pretty necessary).

[necaris]

Are they acquainted with Oxford as a town, and know whereabouts they'd like to live? I assume you'll be able to give them guidelines enough to steer them away from Temple Cowley and suchlike (as figg points out)...

I also think it'd be pretty useful just getting the word out :-) Last I knew, a couple of acquaintances of mine were looking for prospective flatmates, I'll check up with them if you'd like...