Making money

Having had some rather extravagant holidays this summer (including unplanned extravagances like missed flights, bus fines and so on!), I'm feeling the crunch. I thought I'd have a look around for some extra money-making opportunities in Oxford. My options:

> Shops
Most places are happy to take CVs and some, especially sandwich shops, always seem to be advertising for more staff.

Pros: discounts!
Cons: probably not good hours for me with my other work, especially over Christmas.


> Restaurants and cafes
Always on the look-out for waitresses, servers and cooks. Flexibl(ish) hours and very sociable.

Pros: good food!
Cons: I'm very clumsy, so waitressing is probably out; I've no cooking qualifications, so cooking is probably out; I compulsively eat whatever's in front of me, so serving is probably not going to work...


> Bar work
There are usually adverts up outside places like the Royal Oak.

Pros: sociable. Flexible hours.
Cons: All seem to require experience. A vicious circle, if you ask me!


> Something else...
So what exactly could I do? It was at this point that I turned from wandering the streets to perusing the internet. I came across the website http://oxford.gumtree.com/ which I thought was just for London, but there's an Oxford section. You can search loads of jobs there, from full time marketing or teaching positions (is there really nowhere official to advertise teaching jobs? They're all over the place here!) to casual work helping someone do gardening or paint their house.
My favourites included an advert for 'A Depressed Person' to carry out a psychology study, and 'Man with a van' to transport some boxes, 'no questions asked'...mysterious stuff!

So, if you're strapped for cash in Oxford and can offer your services as a masseuse, language tutor, strongman or ironer, I recommend a browse on that site, as it's really useful.