Four wheels bad

My first visit to a big supermarket in three months was something of a rude shock. It was bad timing for such a visit – Easter Saturday, in the afternoon – and not all supermarkets are as bad as the Tesco's in Lewisham, but I'm more determined than ever to stick to going to local shops as much as I can.

Sometimes I'm going to a Tesco Express around the corner from me. It's pretty basic, but it's quite cheap and I can get meat I can trust from there on a Sunday evening, which I can't do any other way.

This is what I was doing last Sunday, driving home from a long day out. We stopped off at the Express, and found that there is very little car parking provision for the store. Two places directly outside, and that's all.

This might be laudable if it were part of a plan to encourage other forms of transport, but as Richard George noted in the Guardian last week, most bigger supermarkets are designed almost entirely around car drivers. This means that pedestrian shoppers usually have to walk through a car park to get to the store.

As for cyclists ... this is the provision at my local Sainsbury's!

Back in Brockley, I woudn't be surprised if people living close to the store are becoming a little miffed by the constant flow of cars stopping off outside their homes.