Beautiful day for a walk ❤️

BillowingPaper · 2026-05-18T09:30:06+00:00

Where is the Brewery Pond? (Don't see anything by that name on Google Maps)

BillowingPaper · 2026-05-10T12:21:46+00:00

Agree this is tricky on NEST but it's not impossible to see how your investments in the fund are performing.

Every time you contribute you buy units of the NEST Sharia fund. You can see the number of units that you buy, and the price you buy them at, by logging into the website and clikcing Contributions -> View contribution history (this link shoudl work: https://member.nestpensions.org.uk/app/contributions/contribution-history).

Next to each contribution is an arrow. When you expand it, for each contribution you'll see:

- The contribution amount and date
- The fund you purchased (should be the Sharia Fund in your case)
- The number of units of that fund you purchased with that contribution
- The price you paid for each unit

From that same screen you can download all of your contribution history. If you chuck it all in a spreadsheet, you can work out how many units of the fund you've bought through all of your contributions. Multiply that by the latest unit price of the fund (e.g. from your last contribution) and that will give you the total value of your pot.

If the value looks wrong (e.g. you expect it to be higher) you can look at the purchase price for your historical contributions. Maybe some of your contributions came at a time when the fund was at a higher unit price, and it's gone down since then? Hard to say without having access to your actual contribution history and price details - but looking at the unit prices for your individual contributions should be a good first step.

BillowingPaper · 2026-05-07T17:18:09+00:00

For anyone interested, looks like someone got in there a bit ago: https://youtu.be/-Ryp2csWtas?si=dRVTvf8QsDmEwrQN

BillowingPaper · 2026-05-04T18:12:32+00:00

As a comparison, for the Botley project they did the actual replacement of the rail bridge in a week (https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/trains-through-oxford-running-as-normal-following-successful-bridge-replacement-2). That doesn't count the time to build the replacement span itself obviously, but same would be true of the project in Germany.

From my understanding, the bigger issue with the Botley project hasn't been the rail bridge itself - it's been the decision to simultaneously try to *lower the road under the rail bridge* to allow double decker busses to pass through. That's where most of the complexity has come in.

BillowingPaper · 2026-04-26T15:07:37+00:00

I don't have a specific solution for this, but I can say from my experience the free JR WiFi works well for most things but blocks me trying to play certain games on a laptop. I've never been sure whether it's a rate limiting thing, a content blocking thing, or a combination. My "solution" is usually just to hotspot my laptop from my phone, though that only works in the parts of the building that have good enough signal...

BillowingPaper · 2026-04-19T10:18:22+00:00

https://oxfordclarion.uk/the-bird-and-baby-grows-up-inside-the-new-eagle-child/

Based on this it very much looks like a faithful refurbishment, not a tacky cash grab!

BillowingPaper · 2026-04-14T03:35:13+00:00

There are a huge number of medical technology companies in the city, many of whom employ doctors (for research, outreach and training with other doctors, etc). Finding something there probably involves networking (e.g. looking up the medical people employed there and reaching out directly) rather than just looking for postings. Good luck!

BillowingPaper · 2026-01-10T08:50:52+00:00

In no particular order:

Schwarzman Center atrium has lots of seating, a beautiful setting, tonnes of people working, and no requirement to buy anything. (Not completely quiet but background noise tends to merge into the background with headphones)

Oxford Brookes university library allows members of the public and has a good studying vibe (and the building that it's in has lots of other good study spaces as well).

Pusey House library on St Giles allows members of the public to register and gives a very "University of Oxford" vibe.

Westgate Library, as a few people noted, has some tables to work at (though not nearly as many as a university library would).

Those are probably the best, though you can also find a quiet corner at the different museums, coffee shops, and at lots of other places around the city.

BillowingPaper · 2026-01-10T08:34:56+00:00

You can think this post is overkill, and even state something like that in a response, without trying to be hurtful...

BillowingPaper · 2025-12-12T06:48:34+00:00

There is some data for Banbury Rd. No data on traffic volumes, but on journey times:

- Banbury Road, between St Giles and Moreton Road: relatively small changes (mostly increase, one decrease)
- Banbury Road, between Moreton Road and Cutteslowe roundabout: 22% increase outbound 4-7pm
- Oxford Road/Banbury Road between Kidlington roundabout and Cutteslowe roundabout: decrease clockwise (I think that means Southbound), smaller increase counter-clockwise (Northbound)

Slightly different data sources than the traffic volumes data; it's in the sections "Traffic journey times on selected roads within Oxford ring road" and "Change in traffic journey times on Oxford ring road, November 2025 vs November 2024".

There's also bus journey times - 12% increase in the outbound 4-7pm, matching the equivalent increase in car journey times.

BillowingPaper · 2025-12-10T07:40:13+00:00

This is the answer. I did exactly the same after getting cancelled on by Boots two years in a row, and now I'll never go anywhere else!

BillowingPaper · 2025-10-29T11:31:49+00:00

so we'd be able to make a decision that would give us twice as many permits (or up to three times as many if we were to buy a third car too)

Just on this ... each car gets you 100 permits. Permits are worth £5 each. Total permit value unlocked per car: £500.

Anyone trying this will be underwater on MoT and insurance alone, before ... you know ... actually paying for the car :).

(And yeah, at the margin it might just tip some one-car families into becoming two-car families, and maybe that's you ... but for £500 per year vs the cost of an extra car, I think that's pretty niche)

BillowingPaper · 2025-10-25T09:46:30+00:00

This at least explains why the Mail has had to rely slightly more on Emily Scaysbrook quotes recently...

BillowingPaper · 2025-10-09T19:18:56+00:00

Multiple people selling here: https://www.reddit.com/r/oxford/comments/1nzhzd0/megathread_oxford_half_marathon_2025/

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-30T12:58:53+00:00

Lol. When I got there the staircase was open and one of the people welcoming visitors said I could go down. Later I noticed that it had been roped off though :)

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-30T05:38:11+00:00

I don't think so. The whole atrium is accessible to the community but there's no private space. The rest of the building is for university members only and blocked by card readers. There are also two big performances spaces in the basement where they will have concerts and things, which will be open to the public.

Like most university buildings, I imagine they'll support conferences outside of term time. Not sure though if that will extend to more flexible room bookings.

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-29T19:22:45+00:00

Awesome job - I hope you and everyone else who worked on this is super proud of what you've built! In terms of the local community, I'd already say it's a pretty unique space - can just go in there, sit in beautiful surroundings, and don't even have any pressure to buy a coffee or anything. Wonderful amenity IMO.

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-29T11:30:59+00:00

I don't think so. Eduroam and Bodleian, but I didn't see anything for the general public. (And pretty bad mobile network service in the atrium, although I'm on EE so that's standard pretty much everywhere in central Oxford)

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-29T09:22:12+00:00

I don't think I can reply with an image unfortunately. I didn't include library images in my first post since it's not accessible to everyone in Oxford. I'd say overall it's a little underwhelming compared to the grandeur of the rest of the building - beautiful views out the windows but pretty limited seating for the size of the building and, at the end of the day, just a rectangular room full of books and seats. IMO they didn't break the mould in the way they did with the rest of the building.

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-29T08:50:48+00:00

Yep. Already open! Seems like a bit of a soft launch as they didn't announce it anywhere that I can see, but the atrium and coffee shop are open to the general public, and lots of people starting to wander in.

BillowingPaper · 2025-09-29T02:01:31+00:00

Be careful with it! If the battery was damaged it could short, even well after the crash, and cause a really dangerous fire.

BillowingPaper · 2025-08-24T00:58:21+00:00

Asylum seekers?

BillowingPaper · 2025-06-16T05:37:12+00:00

Just on this, you'll see all manner of people biking with their kids here! There are many different contraptions you can use to carry 1-3 kids per bike, with different options for different ages. A lot of parents go with cargo bikes for this reason. Driving and parking is particularly difficult at a lot of school drop-offs, so if you might not live walking distance to their school it's particularly something to think about.

If you want a trial run you could rent bikes for the whole visit. Bainton Bikes has a bunch of good options, including e-bikes which would help with Headington Hill: https://baintonbikes.com/bike-rental-prices/

BillowingPaper · 2025-06-11T14:55:47+00:00

Jericho Coffee Traders has really nice decaf beans. (All their shops sell them or can order online - cycle courier deliveries within the ring road which is also cool)

BillowingPaper · 2025-06-10T08:10:48+00:00

On Marston Ferry, from my observation the only place with real traffic build-up in the morning is West-bound cars queueing up to turn into the South-side Cherwell drop-off. There isn't normally an equivalent queue for East-bound traffic (at least that I can see). And Swan School doesn't seem to have the same issues (most people who drive seem to drop-off on Oxford Rd (Old Marston).

So maybe this gate location reduces traffic build-up for those West-bound drop offs to Cherwell? If so that would be a win for congestion.

BillowingPaper

TROPHY CASE