You don't need a bank holiday to BBQ
- BRAD
- May 9, 2024
- 4 min read
Updated: May 26, 2024
Why is it there seems to have to be a bank holiday Monday for people to spark up their BBQs?!
BBQs should be a thing whether there be a bank holiday or not. I had recently landed in the UK from the Canary Islands. A relative, said, “you’ve brought the weather back with you.”
It has been the cloudiest April Britain has seen in six years. It just wasn’t good enough. May, and the weather has finally brightened up. Maybe it was my return which saw the sky improve.
Neighbours on my street were in their back gardens. Smells were rising up into the air and through my window. It was that charcoal smell. It was a good smell. The heat from the tarmac was also sensed. It’s an overseas smell, reminding you of times you’d leave your hotel for a walk downtown. These scents were now firmly on our shores.
I did sit back and think, “for fuck’s sake, why does the country need to wait for a Bank Holiday Monday to get their BBQs out? Why can’t they do it on a Tuesday, a Thursday or a Wednesday?” The age old, time immemorial, time immoral, excuse of “I’m at work.” This is pitiful.
When I was working for the Daily Mirror Group out of the regions, I would still manage to take the Quattro out for a spin and get in at least eight pints, after most shifts. This is badboy. This working excuse is getting thin in 2024.
I had met a friend at a party. We were texting each other, and I asked if he and anyone he knows fancied coming round mine for a garden party. He agreed. He sent out a broadcast to see who was around. I put the word out around those who were close.
The day was set to see temperatures reach 23C. It was also Bank Holiday Monday, and we were in the UK. There was a myth, now redundant, that the UK always had rain on these occasions. I am pleased to say, this has now been debunked. For the last five years there has been heatwaves from April through to the end of September. This is what I call progress.
Met Office Chief Forecaster, Paul Gundersen, said: “The jet stream sitting to the north of the UK is holding unsettled weather systems at bay and allowing high pressure to dominate bringing fine weather to the vast majority of the UK.
“The current position of the high-pressure means we will see a westerly air flow over the UK, a cooler direction than if air was being brought up from the south, and areas such as Spain or Africa. Therefore, we are not likely to reach heatwave conditions, but temperatures will still be warm reaching the low 20’s for many, particularly in the South West and southern Wales.”
We like unsettled weather system being held back, we only do sunshine in this house, please.
Climate is one thing. This only completes half of the day. The second half is the food. Tesco allowed for a whole BBQ for under a tenner. I thank myself as much as I do the supermarket. It took a serious nose for a bargain. Many a freezer door and squatting was involved in the hunt for serious steals.
They were found. Butcher’s Choice is bang on. Twenty sausages for £1.60. I was confident as I lay them into the basket.
An already mixed crunchy salad was 78p. You can’t be doing with chopping board when all you want to do is get back onto the patio and sink your tin. Six hot dog rolls, 90p. Six burger baps, 49p. Eight beef burgers, £3.60. 454g, I might add. The things we high-lifers miss on a daily basis, the weight of your burgers. I don’t know why Tesco customers need to know the weight of their burgers, but there you are. Ketchup, £1.10 and American Mustard, £1.40. American Inspired Mustard is what the receipt, states, inspired must differ from just American. Either way, it tasted bloody good. I got more of it on my fingers than I did the bread. It all went one way, so it was smiles all round.
The last time we had a BBQ was in Wall Heath. It was at a garden party. I had sat on a folding chair all afternoon, talking my head off to a group of about six. We were all sat on the lawn. There were various other people in the house, but I wasn’t budging. Conversation happily flowed between us six. I was in a spot boasting strong sunshine.
Two days later and I'd given myself sunburn. It was so bad, I could no longer get in the hot-tub. The only other occasion I caught sunburn this bad was earlier in the month in Tenerife.
It would be the first BBQ I had had in years. This is because I had lived in an apartment. The only way you could solve that one is by taking the BBQ to the car park. I didn’t. I moved house instead. The patio, the lawn, the trees at the back of the property are superb. It offers nice views. You can see the city in the distance and there’s plenty of airplanes in the sky for me to admire.
I’m flying again a week on Saturday. I only woke up this morning and gave praise, looking at departing aircraft, reminding myself of my nearing departure.
Do yourself a favour, break free from the Bank Holiday Monday, confinement. We appreciate schedules, but for goodness sake, nobody ever said to themselves, I wish I had spent more time in the office during their final hours. Get that BBQ out the next time sunshine shows face. BBQ every day in my opinion. If there’s sunshine, make the most of it.
There’s me BBQing with the neighbours on my street and criticising my peers for doing the same. I’ll make a promise. I’m getting that BBQ out on a Thursday. Forget the day, next time I feel those rays, I’m dropping what I’m doing. I kind of already have. The Tuesday following, I noticed some left over food. It was utilised. Your turn.
