Every little pint helps...

It's been feeling like a 2nd chance at summer in Oxford. We arrived at the beginning of the week and 7 days later the weather is still good. That just doesn't happen in Scotland, see?

Other good things: you can't spit for hitting a pub. Some of them happen to be very good. After going to Keble College, we stopped by The Lamb and the Flag, well worth visiting if you are in town. Also there is the Isis, on the river, just south of Donnington Bridge. Not exactly close enough to be our local - but definitely charming enough to warrant further visits during fine weather. There's a great big out door seating area, where you can watch river boats, cruisers, punts, canoes, kayaks and row boats go by.

There's also frequent farmers' markets in town - with lovely vegetable stalls, and a lovely woman who grows her own fruit in her (very) large garden and makes jams/chutneys/pickles/curds.

This leads me to one of the downsides about Oxford... things (food and otherwise) is really rather expensive. Not that Edinburgh was cheap - but at least we knew where we could get a good price on things. Perhaps we will simply become more shop savvy the longer we live here - but right now the price of things makes us wince.

The flat is ok though, price wise. It's 400 pds a month (shut up. I know that's really expensive if you live in Taiwan - but this is Oxford we're talking about), all bills included. The place is a little house which 8 people call home. Rather alot of bodies to be sharing one tiny kitchen and a very simple bathroom with toilet inside. I've fretted about the possibility of having to queue for the loo - but so far I've worked out that people keep fairly late hours, so if I get up at 8 or 9 it's ok. Good incentive for getting me out of bed, that.

Problems with the flat: everything is transitory, which means that nothing is taken very good care of, and not much is very clean. Toph and I have been trying to make this a better place to live - and it's costing us time & money. Luckily our landlord/letting agent who also lives here seems fairly amenable to forking out for the costs of communal things...

Like I keep thinking - things could be worse. But it's really not like me to be so positive. Sun must be getting to my head.

Another benefit: we're just around the corner from Rob & Louise (and their son Arran). They've been keeping us well fed on homecooked meals and making sure that we don't freeze by lending us their duvet when we first got into town. Toph and I have drunk many a cups of tea and many a glasses of stronger stuff whilst listening to Rob's fine selection of reggae tunes.

On the whole I'd have to say that I'm lucky and privileged. I find it difficult to believe that I am (UGH!) living somewhere new (AGAIN). I also find it hard to believe that I'm going to the University of Oxford. Well. I suppose stranger things have happened - after all, pigs can fly, you know.