BBQ party tonight

[Grumpynan]

We have planned a family get together this evening with a charcoal bbq in the garden. I hasten to add it’s a proper one not disposable.

should we still go ahead, or should I play save and cook the food indoors, what’s everyone else doing,

I mean, it stresses disposable bbq, says nothing about kettle ones in a garden. But I don’t want to cause any problems, and tbh we have a lot of trees around us and I’m a little worried, DH says I’m being silly but ?

Absolutely.

I know we have to be very careful at the moment and I agree with it, but if you go to Oz, there are permanent bbqs everywhere in public places. How do they manage it??? Mind you, they are accustomed to, and respectful of the heat, prepared for it, and have been brought up not to be twats in the heat.

Bleach, please. What is wrong with you?
And I mean drink it, natch.

What if there aren’t any surrounding trees?

And this is the problem. Idiots will either do as they please, or if something isn’t specifically prohibited they’ll find an excuse to do it anyway.

you can’t rely on common sense.

Cook indoors definitely. It'll seem a minor inconvenience compared with causing a fire that burns dozens of houses and kills people.

Do what you want, but remember it's your house that go up in flames if anything happens.

Having watched my neighbour nearly lose his garage this week I'm wouldn't risk using any type of BBQ until we've had rain.
He has a proper charcoal one and the problem he had was fat causing flare ups of flames. Fat caused a large flare up which the breeze carried away almost 5' and then sparks caught his climber on the garage which then started burning. Luckily, neighbour on garage side had his hosepipe still attached (he's exempt so still using it) and he was able to put out the flames. It really shook neighbour up because he thought that a BBQ on a patio would be safe.

It's not OK.

The problem with your advice is that anyone idiotic enough to be lighting any kind of fire at the moment is unlikely to act sensibly. The very act of lighting the barbecue is fucking stupid.

I can't believe how many idiots on here still think a barbecue is a good idea in the current conditions.

Have they watched the news at all? Have they seen the footage of people's homes and life possessions in flames? Have they seen the swathes of our countryside, including people's livelihoods, animals and natural habitats destroyed by devastating wild fires?

However sensible you might think you are, barbecues are an unnecessary risk at the moment. If you were sensible, you wouldn't need the government to tell you that.

And neighbours. So not really fair to make that decision on their behalf.

We all put restrictions on ourselves - speed limits, seat belts, food hygiene rules.

Humans have always done it, it's about avoiding death/harm and protecting the group.

Not having a BBQ for a fortnight isn't a big restriction, I'd just do something else equally enjoyable.

Some people are not very comfortable with changing plans, so it upsets them more. That's also a common human response - resisting change, fearing restriction.

Should probably tell the alert people that because they didn’t seem to think banning bbqs in their entirely was necessary 🤷‍♀️

Not necessarily just your house. 19 houses destroyed in Stourbridge and others severely damaged.

Does the alert seriously expand to BBQ in your own garden? That's not how I read it, neither did I take the bbc coverage that way.

We rarely do bbq but it's gas. But got no more planned imminently. Next door do a bbq every Sunday without fail.

I guess there is always three camps on government imposed restriction in times of crisis.

Follow the guidelines

Add extra restrictions on top of your own invention.

Decide they don't apply to you at all.

So much for the "I'd never follow another lockdown!" Type policy.

Personally we have decided to be extra cautious and have disconnected the gas and electricity at mains and just eating dried pasta ( no salad as no fridge). Dh pointed out the car has a combustion engine which technically is a spark outside ( the worse news ever) so will be walking the 30 mile round trip to work on foot come Monday.

That’s not for you to calculate though is it?
Why do you think you’re better than the advice given or have more fire understanding than the FBU?

We have a bbq planned for today but I’m using the oven instead for the sausages and chicken, and having pizzas insured of burgers. We do live very close to a park and there is abit of a wind here today so it would only take a few hot ashes to blow a few metres and the whole area could catch fire. There was a huge wild fire not far from us the other day and the park close to us is like straw right now!

The people asking if they shouldn't use BBQs are probably the same people asking if they can look at the sun or not during the eclipse
So no, DO NOT USE ANYTHING WITH A FLAME OR SPARK

For me it’s about risk vs reward

the risk is that yours, and your neighbours houses go up in flames and that risk is heightened at the moment

the reward is that you get a bbq with food cooked outdoors rather than indoors.

i think the risk far outweighs the reward and anyone who can’t see that is part of the problem

You can have a household bbq, the only thing that is on the new government issued edict is:

never leave a household barbecue unattended and ensure it is fully extinguished after use.

which you need to be silly to do in the first place!

id also have a bucket of water next to it and personally I would only do one on concrete

You sound like the sort of person who would invite twelve people round during Covid but say it was okay because you sitting in two separate groups of 6 (back then that was a thing). Yes that rule was a bit bonkers but it was indicative of a wider disdain for doing anything that inconvenienced you in favour of the greater good.

covid was obviously a shit show - but we don’t need people to be finding reasons to do things that are obviously unsafe under the guise of it’s not been explicitly banned. Use your brain.

Cook in the kitchen. Really not worth the risk & also you are likely to get Karen’s in the neighbourhood who will report you.

you can still have your party albeit not a BBQ!

"any activity that could start a fire"

They probably hoped adults wouldn't need every activity listed.

I better not have a fag in the back garden. Neighbours could end up having a nervous breakdown.

She said she's not a moron, so obviously not.

@DyslexicPoster

it doesn’t include garden BBQ’s but just like with Covid people do like to read more into a statement than is there. I don’t even own a bbq so no skin in this but anyone should be able to comprehend that a gas bbq on a stone patio. Is very different to a disposable bbq on dry grass!