Looking for room in Oxford

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 67219
  • Start date Start date
D

Deleted member 67219

Guest
As the title says. I've been made homeless through no fault of my own (I lived with a couple of drug dealers and the agency were 'kind' enough to let me out of my contract early) I'm ok at the moment because it's the Christmas holidays from university, but at the end of January I really need to be based back in Oxford again until May. If the company was good I'd like to stay longer - I still have two and a half years of my degree left!

I'm a Brookes university student, 28 years old and doing an undergraduate degree in History of Art. I'm not much into socialising and only occasionally go out very late, although I don't drink and so I'm nice and quiet on my return.

I'm vegetarian, enjoy cooking and obviously enjoy taking photographs. I run my own business writing for photography magazines and so between that and the studying I'm really looking for somewhere nice and quiet to live. I'm also quite active in campaigning for women's, gay and polyamory rights and live what people fashionably like to call an 'alternative' lifestyle I suppose. It's less exciting than it sounds. Promise.

If you have a spare room that you wouldn't mind a student inhabiting please drop me a line. I'm willing to consider all options right now, either in Oxford itself or within a shortish driving distance to Thornhill park and ride. My only real requirements are a car parking space, somewhere to put my bike (I'm training for a triathlon) and a washing machine.

I have a student loan and I'm not afraid to spend it. Please get in touch if you think you can help.
 
Yeuk! Bad time for this...

May be worth looking at Airbnb. The prices are for short lets and therefore high but someone out there may be willing to look at a long-term let for a reasonable rate.

Good luck!
 
jon ryan said:
Yeuk! Bad time for this...

May be worth looking at Airbnb. The prices are for short lets and therefore high but someone out there may be willing to look at a long-term let for a reasonable rate.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

It might be worth considering if I can't find anything else, but if nothing else the plan is just to commute from Essex to Oxford on the days that I'm studying (Thursday and Friday) and get a youth hostel or something on the Thursday night (£15, not too bad).

It's just frustrating because it's really affecting the quality of my work as well as making me live two hours further away from my partner who is further North.
 
That doesn't sound like a fun commute. And living away from your partner is even less fun; my wife is a historian & and has been a visiting prof in Denmark for the last three months. Thank Cthulu for skype!
 
Don't know what it's like in Oxford, but round here come January there are lots of student houses desperately advertising for an extra. If one student drops out then the others can end up paying the rent and for obvious reasons they don't want to do that.

I guess you've checked your local version of Studentpad?
 
JonathanRyan said:
Don't know what it's like in Oxford, but round here come January there are lots of student houses desperately advertising for an extra. If one student drops out then the others can end up paying the rent and for obvious reasons they don't want to do that.

I guess you've checked your local version of Studentpad?
Click to expand...

There is a problem with being a student in Oxford and owning a car. No property owned by the university is allowed to have a student with a car in it, and many of the properties rented out as 'student' properties aren't allowed to buy parking permits from the council. There are huge fines for trying to circumvent the rules, if I'd have known I would have unfortunately chosen a different university to be honest - even though my course is truly excellent.
 
Wow - I didn't know that. I kind of understand why but that sucks.

Spareroom.co.uk ?
 
JonathanRyan said:
Wow - I didn't know that. I kind of understand why but that sucks.

Spareroom.co.uk ?
Click to expand...

Yes, I've got an account on there. It's where my partner always finds places for work. Hopefully something will come up. Lots of people just plain don't want students though, when you enquire you find that lots of places are Monday-Friday lets for business people.

Quite often though to be honest, I think when I go to view places and we have a chat, people inevitably ask me about my life as they want to find out about this person who will be living with them. When they find out I have two partners most people are horrified and think I'm some kind of evil cheating person who will corrupt their values or something. It's not something I can exactly hide as it's going to come up in casual conversation! I don't want to be one of these people who hides in their room and never chats to the people they live with, that's just not me.

It's difficult being a little bit of an eccentric, people aren't really sure how to deal with you. Which is why I'm hoping to there's some lovely creative living in the surrounding areas of Oxford with a room to let who wants a bit of company and some extra cash.
 
I'll mention this to my wife when we speak this evening. She knows a lot of people in the area from her time at Oxford. They tend to be eccentric...:)
 
does it have to be in Oxford itself ? I used to work for oxfordshire county council so i know a few people who might help, but they mostly live outside the city in places like wheatley, eynsham, cumnor and so forth. I can't imagine most of them would be bothered about the two partners thing - most of them would file that under 'your personal lifes not my business'
 
big soft moose said:
does it have to be in Oxford itself ? I used to work for oxfordshire county council so i know a few people who might help, but they mostly live outside the city in places like wheatley, eynsham, cumnor and so forth. I can't imagine most of them would be bothered about the two partners thing - most of them would file that under 'your personal lifes not my business'
Click to expand...

No, like I said, short driving distance to Thornhill P&R is good too. Wheatley is one of the places I've been looking at too because there is a bus that connects Wheatley campus to the central campus where my lectures are.

I wish everyone would file it under 'not my business', but unfortunately that's just not the way things are. It's a shame really.

And I really do appreciate anyone who puts the word out for me.
 
I'll zap an email to my old team and see if they come up with anything... they are the least predjudiced lot you're likely to find in a while so they are likely to present your case sensitively.

I can certainly sympathise as my landlord (rented housing rather than rooms) recently gave us notice to quit because he's selling and the buyer wants vacant possesion - We're moving on thursday but its been a horribly stressful two months. In my case the restriction on where we can live comes from having a dog and having to live within 30 minuites of work for call out duties ( I have been relatively liberal in interpreting that - its more like 30 minuites in the midle of the night with no traffic and my foot to the floor)
 
big soft moose said:
I'll zap an email to my old team and see if they come up with anything... they are the least predjudiced lot you're likely to find in a while so they are likely to present your case sensitively.

I can certainly sympathise as my landlord (rented housing rather than rooms) recently gave us notice to quit because he's selling and the buyer wants vacant possesion - We're moving on thursday but its been a horribly stressful two months. In my case the restriction on where we can live comes from having a dog and having to live within 30 minuites of work for call out duties ( I have been relatively liberal in interpreting that - its more like 30 minuites in the midle of the night with no traffic and my foot to the floor)
Click to expand...

Ha yes, I know the feeling. Fortunately my beautiful labrador lives with my Mum back in Essex.

But you know, people have gone through worse s*** than this. Driving three/four hours on a Thursday morning and kipping in the back of the car isn't the worst situation in the world. I'd much prefer this relatively minor inconvenient to having to risk getting shot just because I'm female and want an education, for example!
 
well yes there is that - its still something you shouldn't have to put up with though

(its probably too far out , but if you get really stuck my mum lives in wendover buckinghamshire - about 30-40 mins from the wheatley campus. she won't be looking for a long term lodger, but I could ask her if she'd put you up a couple of nghts a week for a few weeks )
 
Last edited:
I'll keep my eyes and ears open too, Charlotte. With the changes going on at Heyford Park just a few miles down the road, you never know what might come up.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top