We Adore The Open Spaces But There Can Always Be Improvements To Help People Enjoy It
Absolute joy as BBC4 go on with the Great Outdoors series, mingling documentaries, travelogues and dramas highlighting the tradition of people going out into the open spaces and taking pleasure in what our country has to offer.
This is not merely a British thing of course, many countries celebrate their untamed areas, none more so than the Australians whose culture is almost entirely focused on getting away from walls. The majority of this is based around the beach as most Aussies live within an hour of the coast. And because of this, the institution of the Australian bbq is one of the most celebrated aspects of life Down Under.
When we lived in Canberra, we were just across the road from a picnic area by Lake Burley Griffin which had public bbq grills built in for anybody to use. This is a commonplace feature and makes life easy (if you can find one not being used) since you just need to pack some coals and food and leave behind your own bbq. All you had to do was to bag one of the unused bbq grills, put out and light the charcoal and then when finished, scrub it down and clear away the mess so somebody else could use it. Although, of course Aussies being what they are, it was usual if someone was only making use of a small area of the bbq, to invite someone else to jump on as too.
You could even find a public gas bbq in most places. All you needed was to put a coin or two in the slot and a metered amount of gas would be released from the bottle which made things even simpler as it meant you didn’t need to carry any mucky coals in the car. The gas bbq also meant that there was little to clean up at the end, you would just take a wire brush to the grills to scrub off the charred remains and that was all that was needed to make it ready for someone else to use.
I have also seen public bbq grills when on holiday in the Spanish Islands but not as yet anywhere in parks or by the coast in the UK. It could be that I have so far not been to the right places, but I think it would certainly attract visitors if they could lighten their loads on a trip out to know that they didn’t need to get or bring a portable bbq with them, and a public gas bbq facility would also help generate some cashflow to go towards the upkeep of the area. The main thing is to have enough numbers supplied so that long queues for them don’t build up as this would lead to frustration and mark down the likelihood of a return visit, and make them sufficiently usual for people to reasonably expect to find them when they visit, instead of find them and wish to have known before packing and carrying the portable.
We Brits love the open air, it’s been a part of our leisure time for over a century to get out of the cities and into the fresh air but like anything else, you need to persuade more people to go, and facilities must be constantly improved to facilitate this.
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