Bring Back Picnics

[fattymeatysardine]

I'm sick of going to restaurants for social gatherings. The food is usually average and when the check comes it's all a disappointment.
There's too many great and easy recipes that are easy to follow on Youtube. Next time I plan on meeting family I think some tasty sandwiches and fresh soup with suffice.

 

[Outdated]

If you live in a city set up for that then it's a great idea. Aussies do this a lot and most of our parks have nice picnic areas with free electric hotplates so you can cook as well.

 

[fattymeatysardine]

If you live in a city set up for that then it's a great idea. Aussies do this a lot and most of our parks have nice picnic areas with free electric hotplates so you can cook as well.

That's really neat. The closest I've seen to that here in the US is a park with empty grills so you can bring your own charcoal or whatever to start a fire

 

[the_tortoise]

I am also a fan of picnics, they are much better better imo than unaffordably-spendy ($$$) usually both sensory-unfriendly and food-allergy-unfriendly restaurants and cafes...

Most (not all) of my memories of socializing over food or drinks with people in restaurants are stressful blur of color and cacophonous, jumbled, agonizing noise and smells....with seconds-long bits of clear audio and visual here and there, imbued with misery...

Very few of my memories of picnics are like that, even if they happened in big-city parks and beaches, and are still are overlaid with sensory overload...with picnics it's more just the tolerable everyday level of overload or actual peace

If you live in a city set up for that then it's a great idea. Aussies do this a lot and most of our parks have nice picnic areas with free electric hotplates so you can cook as well.

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That's really neat. The closest I've seen to that here in the US is a park with empty grills so you can bring your own charcoal or whatever to start a fire

In Canada some of our public park picnic areas and car-camping sites have firepits, most are like the ones below, or just a metal ring set in the ground:

(Photo source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/fire-bans-lifted-in-banff-yoho-and-kootenay-parks-1.3157885)

(Photo source: Coastal B.C. campfire ban in place for its first weekend)

 

[Outdated]

In Canada some of our public park picnic areas and car-camping sites have firepits, most are like the ones below, or just a metal ring set in the ground:

One of the reasons for our electric barbecues - The majority of Australia has a year round 100% fire ban. You're only allowed to cook on gas or electric by law and having free barbecues everywhere lets us maintain our lifestyle. Because of our climate we spend a lot of time outdoors and many people go to parks or to the beach to have their Christmas Lunch too.

 

[Judge]

Liability concerns aren't like those of yesteryear either. Putting the brakes on any number of local governments no longer willing to foot the bill over their own liability regarding the fire potential with public parks and those grills they used to have the enjoyment of the public.

A consideration that will vary considerably from one place to another here in the US. Particularly given that laws in general have evolved to a point where they no longer automatically protect or limit the liability of municipal places of recreation.

 

[Outdated]

Liability concerns.....

After the fires you've had in the last few years I'm surprised that total fire bans haven't been implemented. A lot of our fire fighters go to help out in the US when they've got fires, but our fire season has been getting longer in the last decade or so and we now have much less off season time to help out.

 

[fattymeatysardine]

After the fires you've had in the last few years I'm surprised that total fire bans haven't been implemented.

Legally starting a fire here in a lot of cases can already be a hassle. In most states you need a permit.

 

[Judge]

After the fires you've had in the last few years I'm surprised that total fire bans haven't been implemented. A lot of our fire fighters go to help out in the US when they've got fires, but our fire season has been getting longer in the last decade or so and we now have much less off season time to help out.

It's often a complicated issue. Though total bans won't reduce the exposure of arsonists or publicly-traded utilities companies that continually claim they don't have the revenue to update their old, faulty equipment. (The usual "too big to fail" extortion angle.) Where massive class-actions could potentially bring down some of these companies if their shareholders abandon them. Often leaving my state in a terrible predicament having to deal with such an exposure along our western borders.

And some municipalities and their local politicians won't even bother to remove grills from their parks given claims of an expense to taxpayers.

One big mess at times.

 

[Mary Terry]

After the fires you've had in the last few years I'm surprised that total fire bans haven't been implemented. A lot of our fire fighters go to help out in the US when they've got fires, but our fire season has been getting longer in the last decade or so and we now have much less off season time to help out.

The western US usually has bone dry trees, grasses and tinder waiting to explode in fire. When there is a lot of rain in those arid regions, the fire risk is much lower. Therefore, fire bans are imposed when the prevailing conditions indicate it is needed.

We appreciate the Aussie firefighters who come help us!

 

[Outdated]

Though total bans won't reduce the exposure of arsonists or publicly-traded utilities companies that continually claim they don't have the revenue to update their old, faulty equipment.

Although we've got our fair share of arsonists too, most fires here get started by dry lightning from dust storms. The next biggest cause is accidental, human error. Someone using an angle grinder out in the yard without bothering to clear all the detritus off of the ground first, welders on building sites often make the same mistake, standard procedure is to have someone standing with the hose ready and watching for flair ups while the worker gets the job done, but often they take shortcuts. Tourists tend to ignore fire bans too, domestic and international.

Our above ground power lines all have plastic rods between the different lines keeping them the same distance apart so that they can't swing against each other during strong winds.

We also had a huge fire started by a military helicopter crew, they were transporting an officer and the officer begged them to land for a minute because he was busting for a leak and about to wet himself. They landed for only a minute or so in wide grassy plains. Dry grass, hot exhaust. Guess how much trouble they got in to.

 

[Judge]

Although we've got our fair share of arsonists too, most fires here get started by dry lightning from dust storms.

We get those here in the High Desert as well. One in which there is no responsible way to avoid such an exposure. The one thing I watch for during electrical storms here. Often very damaging if they begin in much less accessible, remote areas.

 

[Outdated]

We get those here in the High Desert as well. One in which there is no responsible way to avoid such an exposure. The one thing I watch for during electrical storms here. Often very damaging if they begin in much less accessible, remote areas.

It's interesting the way our country fire brigades are set up, outside of the cities they're all volunteers, our state emergency services too. They're set up as non profit community social clubs just like any local sports club, you can join the local football club, you can join the local cricket club, and you can join the fire brigade.

The same as any other social club, they have club rooms and they raise funds to improve their facilities and that encourages more members to join the club. State governments provide their equipment and training and they have obligations as part of that to the rest of the state, but in many ways they're very much like sporting clubs and train with other groups to improve their skills.

 

[Judge]

It's interesting the way our country fire brigades are set up, outside of the cities they're all volunteers, our state emergency services too. They're set up as non profit community social clubs just like any local sports club, you can join the local football club, you can join the local cricket club, and you can join the fire brigade.

The same as any other social club, they have club rooms and they raise funds to improve their facilities and that encourages more members to join the club. State governments provide their equipment and training and they have obligations as part of that to the rest of the state, but in many ways they're very much like sporting clubs and train with other groups to improve their skills.

We have the same thing. Often proportional to how far away they are from professional firefighter stations. With varied degrees of training.

 

[Mary Terry]

Speaking of arson, some POS set the one and only local synagogue on fire two nights ago. He accidentally set himself on fire, too, and was arrested at the hospital where he went for burn treatment. The same synagogue was dynamited and burned down in the 1960s by the KKK. The FBI and local law enforcement have not yet published his name, but we know he is a white, 29 y/o male. He deliberately set the library on fire, burning up everything including Torahs but the pre-WWII Torah that was on display in a glass case is okay.

 

[Dagan]

I can imagine folks here going to court over their right to bear fire, haha.

I still have an idea one day (being that I do practical fx) that I will make a bunch of fake bear arms that I hang up all on one random wall. If anyone comes over and asks what they're for, I'll tell them that I have the right to bear...arms...so I have some.

 

[JayLapointe]

I like picnics as long as we have a picnic table and not a blanket on the ground. Ant's/bugs etc annoy me while attempting to eat, which is funny because when not eating I can lay in the grass for hours watching them do their thing. A situational irritant. My town actually has some wonderful picnic shelters all along their waterfront walking trail. Snaps from streetview not my own.