Bulls Bridge Tesco

Paddington to Bulls Bridge, 12.5 miles, 0 locks

A quiet day today. Set off at 10 and tootled through the long pound at a stately three miles per hour (according to the GPS). Stopped at the Alperton Sainsbury's for a cup of tea and elevenses (on board, not in Sainsbury's) then started on the long bit that wends through the industrial back of Greenford (where young kids threw lager cans onto the boat as I went under a bridge), Southall, and eventually ends up outside Hayes at Bulls Bridge.

Bulls Bridge is the junction between the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal and the Main Branch. There's a retail complex there, with a huge Tesco Extra having the canalside location. I was forced to moor right at the end of Tesco's land, away from the main moorings, which were full of badly parked boats and fishermen. I know that poorly parked cars infuriate me, especially when the excuse from the driver is that "They don't want to be blocked in" (translation: not only can't I park properly but I can't get out if someone gets too close), but badly parking a boat is just antisocial. Having a boat's length of mooring taken up with fishermen isn't great either, but I could never have got into the gap because of the bad parking.

I was feeling tired by this time, but I wandered around Tesco in search of provisions. Being a Tesco Extra, it's huge and they have even more of everything than a normal Tesco, so choice paralysis sets in almost immediately and makes the entire shopping journey drag. I didn't have a definite shopping list in mind either, except I wanted fresh Mayonnaise and paprika in order to make Rouille to go with the fish soup I was having in the evening (turned out I'd bought some in France when I bought the soup, so neither was needed).

One joyful discovery was that Tesco sell triple-ply toilet tissue. I've been buying this in France because it's wonderfully strong and you therefore use less of it (like, you don't need to fold together three sheets in an attempt to make a single robust sheet, only to find that adding more sheets doesn't make it stronger). I'd bought a load of Co-op own-brand tissue, which seems better than most, but it's still not as good as the French stuff, so I'm hopeful that this will perform as well.

Jan came round for dinner. I'd made the fish soup according to Delia's Cheat recipe, with ASDA jumbo crab and John West dressed Lobster, but used the croutons that came with the soup and my déjà-purchased Rouille. It was delicious! After it had settled, we had fettuccine with pesto and freshly pan-fried prawns (only 1% fat before they go in the hot olive oil!)

Looks like I've left the inverter on by mistake, as the lights are on the dim side. Hope that the engine battery isolator works and that the engine starts tomorrow, or I'm in the clag!