You’re very welcome, I’m glad you like it :)
It possibly worth me mentioning that my level of transience is pretty whole-heartedly chosen: I gave up job stability for this (startup was successful). I picked 6 months because that seemed like a good amount of time to explore the possibility of doing this for longer, I considered applying for 12 months (which I don’t think would have negatively affected my application) but mainly worried about over-committing. I know people at TH who have 4 year contracts, which I’d consider relatively stable.
While I live on a boat, the boat doesn’t move that fast & I’m planning on Oxford being my UK base for the next decade (with some months abroad). Health insurance is a non-issue here, and since I now own the boat I don’t pay rent either. So I feel pretty stable, really, even though my home sways when the rowers come past.
I basically told them I was researching AI safety, and could point to a handful of relevant books which I genuinely wanted to read, which were in the Bodleian but not in e.g. the county library. I think you can search their catalogue at https://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk even without an account, which is quite helpful.
Common Ground on Little Clarendon Street is a good shout in the meantime, and the Country Library in Westgate is a decent change of scenery.