The lovely spring weather has inevitably awakened thoughts of outdoor cooking, so we dug our venerable barbecue out of storage. Alas! It gave evidence that not all was as it used to be, or even should be. The venturi tube was laying on the ground, and Wendy was asking if we needed it! The handles came off in my hand—I guess that's where handles should be anyway—but, they failed to do their assigned task of lifting the lid! The wheels didn't. Perhaps sometimes we do need to reinvent the wheel! Reluctantly, I faced the fact that the old barbecue was (as they say in Zambia) finished! I loaded it into the back of the truck and Wendy hauled it out to the dump. Then we began the search for a new one! We shopped the flyers that conveniently had placed a number of barbecues on special this week. What do these suppliers know about the vagaries of storage?
I eventually settled on one from Canadian Tire. Wendy settled on a different one from Superstore. (Yes, mine was the cheapest available. Now get over it!!) We went to Canadian Tire, but they had none of my pick in stock, so we headed over to Superstore and picked up the nice one they had on display.
Once we got it home, I began to unpack it, and to consider their ominous notation, "Some Assembly Required." Indeed! I am happy to tell you that the assembly instructions had been translated from the original Korean by an Egyptian who was fluent in neither language. Thus we had items called, Left Foot, Right Foot and Whee Axle! I know where my feet are, and I'm sure I have a Whee Axle somewhere! It was surprising to find there was not only a Cup, but also a Cup Support—and nicely in time for Stanley Cup playoffs, no less. They also illustrated M6 Bolts, M6 Large Bolts, M6 Small Bolts, and M4 Bolts. Pictures of the two different types of M4 Bolts revealed that one had a round head and the other had a flat head. Instructions merely called for use of an M4 Bolt!! Nuts were also supplied—M6 Nuts and M4 Nuts and M10 Nuts!! They all looked the same in the illustration, no details were given as to their size, and we had no M10 Bolts, so... At least I was pleased with their comment that, "It will takes less than 40 minutes to assembly the grill." (It would 'takes' many hours to 'reassembly' their document into English!)
However, assemble I did; and after many renditions of "Align the holes in the top front panel(6) with the holes in one of the left side support(12), screwing a M6 Bolt(A) into each pre-drilled holes" and the like, and after much more than forty minutes, I had a new barbecue.
And, armed with a fresh bottle of propane, I even grilled some hamburgers on it!
I eventually settled on one from Canadian Tire. Wendy settled on a different one from Superstore. (Yes, mine was the cheapest available. Now get over it!!) We went to Canadian Tire, but they had none of my pick in stock, so we headed over to Superstore and picked up the nice one they had on display.
Once we got it home, I began to unpack it, and to consider their ominous notation, "Some Assembly Required." Indeed! I am happy to tell you that the assembly instructions had been translated from the original Korean by an Egyptian who was fluent in neither language. Thus we had items called, Left Foot, Right Foot and Whee Axle! I know where my feet are, and I'm sure I have a Whee Axle somewhere! It was surprising to find there was not only a Cup, but also a Cup Support—and nicely in time for Stanley Cup playoffs, no less. They also illustrated M6 Bolts, M6 Large Bolts, M6 Small Bolts, and M4 Bolts. Pictures of the two different types of M4 Bolts revealed that one had a round head and the other had a flat head. Instructions merely called for use of an M4 Bolt!! Nuts were also supplied—M6 Nuts and M4 Nuts and M10 Nuts!! They all looked the same in the illustration, no details were given as to their size, and we had no M10 Bolts, so... At least I was pleased with their comment that, "It will takes less than 40 minutes to assembly the grill." (It would 'takes' many hours to 'reassembly' their document into English!)
However, assemble I did; and after many renditions of "Align the holes in the top front panel(6) with the holes in one of the left side support(12), screwing a M6 Bolt(A) into each pre-drilled holes" and the like, and after much more than forty minutes, I had a new barbecue.
And, armed with a fresh bottle of propane, I even grilled some hamburgers on it!
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