Opinion : Is it time to ban the barbecue?

It looks like summer is over.

The nice sunny weather of a week or so ago has turned into day upon day of dull, sometimes damp, dreariness not normally associated with mid-July.

Despite the weather yours truly has been busy in my garden. With so many plants to look after the cooler weather means there is less watering to be done and therefore less work when my good self arrives home every evening.

Of course not everybody in Wycombe has a garden and those who do are more interested in staying indoors with their feet up watching television resulting in overgrown wildernesses that make the residential areas of our town look unsightly.

Rather than cutting the lawn and growing plants for most people the only time when they venture into their garden is to hold a party or light one of those smelly barbecues.

In my opinion a barbecue should be considered as a bonfire indeed the smoke and smell can peculate through an entire neighbourhood just like a pile of burning tyres or garden refuse.

Thankfully these days barbecues are few and far between, but there are still those who insist on giving their food an authentic char grilled flavour. Give someone a barbecue and they will be an instant expert on how to use it even though it’s their first attempt at cooking on a bed of smouldering charcoal.

A few weekends ago yours truly was invited to a barbecue party at the house of a work colleague.

Once the barbecue was heated up out came the sausages and beef burgers and the ‘chef’ (and please note that I use the word ‘chef’ loosely) started cooking.

In a jiffy the first hot dog was being handed out to the lucky (or should that be unlucky?) recipient.

I was rather concerned about the quickness at which the food could be cooked on the barbecue so yours truly decided to refrain from the offer of hot food and instead sneakily took a empty hot dog roll when the ‘chef’ was not looking and pretended that I was eating a real hot dog.

Everyone certainly enjoyed themselves at the barbecue party and a jolly time was had by all.

When it came to the following Monday after the weekend of the barbecue the workplace was rather empty. Sadly it turned out that an awfully high number of employees had rung in sick with food poisoning acquired at the barbecue.

I fear these barbecues are such dangerous things indeed it’s so easy to get food poisoning from them.

Maybe it’s time they were banned? Not only do they smell and cause a smoke nuisance to the neighbours but they pose a serious risk to health.

What do you think?

*My blogs are published every Tuesday and Friday evening around 8.00pm here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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