Outside the capital, Britons gathered for thousands of jubilee-themed street parties and barbecues Sunday.
The rigorous final stages of the selection process involved snorkelling, barbecues and time at a spa.
In the real world, though, barbecues either proceed as planned or get forced indoors by rain.
The money is often wasted, for example on billiard tables, barbecues and, in one case, defibrillators.
Mr Attwood said there might be a need for more bye-laws regarding barbecues and campfires.
Speakers for the group claimed, with exaggeration, that even back-yard barbecues and kitchen stoves would be taxed.
Commonly overlooked items like barbecues and yes, even vehicles, need to be rescued from the open air.
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There is also an old dispute over which nation has the best meat and prepares the best barbecues.
If that is partly due to a lot of cancelled barbecues it could well be temporary (let's hope so).
This may make for smaller backyard barbecues and less shopping for party supplies.
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The food is superb, with no buffets or beach barbecues anywhere in sight.
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The gulf was never starker than at barbecues in Queens with Alejandro's friends.
Their barbecues involved nothing but pieces of beef on the grill -- no sauce, no salad, no forks and knives.
Smells from cookouts and barbecues will fill neighborhoods as folks fire up the grill to make hotdogs, hamburgers and pulled pork.
If I had adopted a strict eating regimen and then had a string or barbecues or special events, I would have derailed.
Ran a civil bonfire every year, with discos and barbecues with that.
Excellent for slow cooking, and it carries over a range of 100 feet (few barbecues are more than 100 feet from an ESPN broadcast).
"We also begin to do outdoor activities, paint the house, and on top of that, if we have good weather then we have barbecues, " he said.
He describes how, on days when the winds were right, they would all fly to a place called the Pine Mountain Club and watch people having barbecues.
"They are middle-class folks who are supposed to be gathering around the barbecues on the patios outside their three-bedroom, two-bath houses"--not swearing on a Bible before a bankruptcy judge.
And the convivial vibe is fostered through events and activities, from beach barbecues to stand up paddleboard lessons and late-night astronomy lectures (under the stars on the beach, of course).
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About 140 people had gathered to raise money for the county party and to see DeMint and other local officials speak at Cox Farm, a 240-acre property prime for hunting and massive barbecues.
The dining room is the main attraction, but they also have full service restaurants at the golf courses, and in summer, a wide variety of festive events and barbecues, including genuine Texas-style brisket.
The Ko family was wealthier than many of their neighbors, but they played an active part in the community, sending their kids to Sunday school at the local Presbyterian church and joining family barbecues.
When the realtor talked up the barbecues and kids' activities held at the club, Dan had visions of lounging around the pool with his wife and kids on the weekends he didn't have to work.
We all like to think of summer as a blur of beach balls and barbecues but once the weekend comes roaring around it can also be filled with pressure to make the most of it.
"I grew up on about 110 acres in the middle of nowhere and spent mostly every day of the summer in a bathing suit, running around on the grass and having barbecues for dinner, " Ms. Kavanagh said.
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Derek Manford, the chairman, is himself a reformed male chauvinist: he opposed the equal-rights motion nine years ago (to his wife's displeasure), but says that the women have proved their worth by organising raffles, bingo and barbecues.
Like the kebab in the window, processors could sell what they like as long as their packaging shows the factories - the snapshots of giant, quivering piles of the contents, without pictures of salads, breadcrumb coatings and barbecues.
The food is very good, and the staff makes mealtime magic of its own, staging beach barbecues and, if the tide is low at dusk, drinks and dinner on a long, scorpion-tail sandbar way out in Copperfield Bay.
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