renting in West London

thanks onetiger, I 'exressed' my concerns to the manager and he seemed reassuring.  a collegue at work had put me in touch with her cousin who now wants me to house sit in London!!  go figure.........
Leaving this Wednesday!!  Nervous, excited, anxious, .........you name it, that's me right now.  The next nail biter is my partners Visa.  Fingers crossed!

About the heating, my collegue had told to beware of 'coin heat' where you deposit coins into a slot to get heat in your room.  No payee......no heatee!  Pease tell me that's an archaic practice from the Victorian days that has since been outlawed!!  If I have to run down to the corner store to buy a pack of gum to get change to "feed the heat meeter".........

A lot of bedsits and 'temporary' accommodation have these meters...
I had one in my first place in Glasgow, and in the end, i just wore like 5 shirts and stayed in bed under the duvet whenever i was in, so i could save the leccy for TV and radio instead.   I didnt even run the fridge... i put the milk, etc in a plastic bag hung out the window!   I soon had 'ice milk'! 

I'd recommend shepherd's bush in a second.  I had a blast there, it's affordable... and so close to notting hill.