The neighborhood

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My friend, Lauren, asked if I could post a few photos of the area where I'm staying. I'm happy to oblige, so here we go. 

I didn't go into the archives today because of a sinus headache. It's not a really bad one, but enough that reading tiny 19th-century print would be rough. I decided to pop to the local shops to pick up some soup and figured it was a good opportunity to snap a few pics of the area as I went. I am staying in Botley, a town that is less than two miles from Oxford city centre. It's a pretty nice community from what I've seen.


First up: This is the back garden. It backs on to a large park, which is rather nice.

Here's the view over the right-hand fence.

Here's the view down the road from the drive. It's a fairly typical English neighborhood. This particular part is mostly semi-detached houses. That means there are two homes side-by-side within each house. They're all two stories, so it's like a duplex of town houses.

This is a little further down the road. Still semi-detached houses here.

I was a bit taken aback by the halo approach to house wiring here. Much different from our angular setup in the states.

The houses further down the hill are detached, meaning it is just one home per house. I'm sorry that the photo is a bit dark. I have no way to brighten pics on my iPad. I should look for an app.

A bit further along. Still detached houses.

Getting a bit closer to the shops now. We're back to semi-detached houses here. They're a little smaller here and not as well maintained.

This is Botley Road, the main thoroughfare from Oxford to Botley. The cream building on the right is the local pub, the Seacourt Bridge. Next to it is a Cat Clinic. On the left is the car park for the shops. I didn't take any pics in the shops. I felt a bit self-conscious.

I rode the bus back because that hill is deadly. This is near the top of Cedar Road, which is where I'm staying. The road is on the left just after the light pole.

A bit down Cedar Road.

And this is my home -away-from-home.

And that's Botley. It's not nearly as impressive as Oxford's historic city centre, but it's a charming town.














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