OS barbeque: without the stinky smoke?

luxor4t

It's a glorious day but I cannot enjoy my garden, eat outside, put out washing or even open a window :mad::mad::mad:

My otherwise charming next door neighbours are about to fill their small garden (& all those surrounding) with clouds of stinking greasy smoke as they do every decent weekend: they call it a barbeque & seem to enjoy it.

For everyone else it is an anti-social nuisance.

Is there a clean, relatively un-smelly method of cooking outdoors that I can suggest to them? I don't want to stop their pleasure, but refuse to sacrifice my own.

DH has suggested sharing their 'hobby' by burning oily rags every time they light up:eek: Sometimes I am soooo tempted

Ivrytwr3

how about going into your house, closing all the doors and windows; that's it.

Then the neighbours won't have to put up with with looking at your sour face.

It's a beautiful day, get out there and have a beer and burger with them!!!!

nesssie1702

Speak to your local Environmental Health Department and see if they can advise? It might be classed as a nuisance under Section 79 of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, which deals with Statutory Nuisance.

ubamother

in my neighbourhood we operate a 15 minute warning system - whoever's lighting up a barbecue stands in their back garden and shouts this information 15 mins before they light it to give anyone a chance to get washing in etc.

I'm sure it is irritating to you, but your neighbours have as much right to have a barbecue as you do to have smoke-free garden time. I would guess, however, you have more smoke-free garden time than they have actual smoky barbecue time if you added up the hours.

rainbowsprite

ubamother thats a great idea. I always wondered what the ettiquette was with regards bbqs.

I can see both sides of the coin. Its great to be at a bbq and it can be a real social affair. ]

However, it is a pain when it is perhaps the only dry day you have had for while and you are trying to get your washing dry.

anguk

Personally I've never seen the attraction of a barbeque, they seem to be such a faff to get the temperature right so you cook the food properly. After all most of the preparation is done inside, all you do is stick the burgers etc on the barbeque. I prefer to just cook everything inside & take it outside to eat!

luxor4t

Just to highlight two important sentence that most posters seem to have overlooked.

luxor4t wrote: »

...
Is there a clean, relatively un-smelly method of cooking outdoors that I can suggest to them? I don't want to stop their pleasure, but refuse to sacrifice my own.

I was asking for practical suggestions, eg types of fuel, or type of barbeque, not personal comments,but sadly this seems to have been overlooked.

rainbowsprite

sorry luxor4t

you can get gas and i believe electric bbqs but i have been told its the coals that give the food their taste

seabright

I understand that British charcoal is less smelly, because it doesn't need firelighters, because it's made in the old-fashioned, very slow, way. If it's the petrol-y smell of firelighters that is the worst bit, for you, maybe you could buy a bag for them and ask them to experiment with it for you? They may not be aware they're causing you a problem, so they'd (hopefully) view this as a contructive way of dealing with it.

luxor4t

seabright wrote: »

They may not be aware they're causing you a problem, so they'd (hopefully) view this as a contructive way of dealing with it.

This is my take on the matter, they are pure gold neighbours & would be mortified if they knew they were being anti-social. As I said in the original post, I don't want to stop them enjoying their bbq, I just don't want to be driven out of mine by clouds of evil- smelling smoke.

Thankyou for your useful suggestion.

Bitsy_Beans

It's the fat in the product that makes the smoke worse. they need to wait til the coals are white, no flame.
My next door neighbour has just had a BBQ - no shed loads of smoke at all. I've had plenty of them myself and not been a nuiscance to my neighbours.
Are you being a tad fussy? Most BBQ cooking doesn't take that long....