Tinkerbell Twice

It turned out that it was Jess that was to stay the first night. She had eaten by the time we collected her so we only had to cook for ourselves once we were back at the boat. The motorway was a bit busy so we came back through Slough. During the evening she enjoyed watching a Wallace and Grommit film on the television.

Next morning we all drove up to Uxbridge. Originally, Christine was just going to drop Mike and Jess at the cinema but she decided to stay and explore the shops. Although she had tried once before and was not impressed, this time she found rather more, perhaps parts that she had missed last time.

Jess and Mike bought their tickets at the Odeon and went in to see the new Tinkerbell film by Disney. A carton of popcorn was also considered a necessity!

Afterwards, we all met up and meanwhile, although shopping had not been successful, Christine has discovered a pleasant coffee and sandwich place in the city centre church. This had only re-opened a few days ago after an extensive refurbishment and they were now selling toasted sandwiches and paninis as well as standard sandwiches.

After a little more wandering the shops we returned to the boat (Mike and Jess made the trip by bus) where Jess worked on a new sticker book (and Mike did some maintenance) until it was time to return to Windsor.

We swapped Jess for Alice and set off back - this time the motorway was much less busy and we came the usual route, but stopped at Tesco to buy some ice cream treats for the evening.

Next day, Alice and Mike caught the bus to Uxbridge and saw the same film as yesterday. However, Alice opted for the Film Feast bag which not only contained popcorn but also a drink and a tube of Smarties. Some of these made it back home!

This time Alice decided that she would prefer to have lunch back at the boat so, after raiding Tesco for some yoghurts, they caught the bus back again. With a bus pass and a frequent 8 minute service, it really was the sensible option, especially as seats on the upper deck were an added attraction!

After lunch Alice settled down to her latest library book by Michael Morpurgo whilst Mike tackled a few more small maintenance tasks.

By three o'clock Alice announced that she had finished her book! She opted to visit a bookshop on the way back home (she had not thought it sufficiently urgent this morning) so we all set off to Windsor and parked in the town centre.

After a good browse through all the books on offer, Alice decided to take a Mr Gun book. Then she spotted that the one she chose had a sticker Buy 1 get 1 half price and asked if she could have two!

Christine was still in search of a couple of items which neither Slough nor Uxbridge had supplied so we rang up and asked if we could have a little longer. As it happened. in that time she found both items!

After leaving Alice at home we returned to the boat made a meal and settled down with an excellent bottle of wine and so came to the end of this final trip to the boat for 2012. The one thing we did not manage to do this time was to move the boat out of the marina! Still, we did have a couple of pleasant walks instead.

Today we loaded up the car and were off just after 11, returning home in just over four hours with a brief comfort break at Taunton Deane.