Barbecue

So, that's it; a couple of days without any rain, cloud cover at less than 100% and suddenly we - the Minx and I - decide it's summer. Plans are quickly made and she heads off to Argos to pick up a barbecue while I head to Booths for the meat and marshmallows.

I must have been displaying clear signs of intent because as I walked into Booths with an empty trolley, I was promptly accosted by a friend who said "Barbecuing already?", which now I've stopped to think about it again is really bloody weird.

Anyway, back at the cottage, now joined by Dan and Abi, we unloaded the barbecue from the car into the front garden. At this point - i.e. where some kind of assembly is required - I would normally distract myself for a while in what I suspect is the subconscious hope that the item would put itself together but Intolerantofprevaricationandprocrastination is the Minx's middle name and so we were soon gathered, with tools, and the barbecue rapidly took shape.

Despite my initial and unfounded doubts about the charcoal - seen here in its early, unenthusiastic stages, with Abi apparently fleeing an anticipated, imminent flagration - soon everything was ticking along nicely. We had burgers, sausages, chicken legs and steaks, closely followed by a rather stuffed feeling, which didn't deter Dan and Abi from melting and consuming a large number of marshmallows, both pink and white .