Big Louis, in view of the story you precis, above, is there a God-shaped hole in the human psyche?
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The Queue - wonderful
(139 Posts)Chalkie Davies
podnreosSt7y05h6tcm8Y5r1a a3c8hm61 aft1g:d1e5aei0a02f9ms0h2h ·
By @curiousiguana
Right, everyone. I need to be serious for a moment. Because the greatest thing that ever happened is happening right now.
I don't particularly care either way about the Queen. But the queue? The Queue is a triumph of Britishness. It's incredible.
Just to be clear: I don't mean the purpose of the queue. I don't mean the outpouring of emotion or collective gried or the event at the end and around the queue or the people in the queue. I mean, literally, the queue. The queue itself. It's like something from Douglas Adams.
It is the motherlode of queues. It is art. It is poetry. It is the queue to end all queues. It opened earlier today and is already 2.2 miles long. They will close it if it gets to FIVE MILES. That's a queue that would take TWO HOURS TO WALK at a brisk pace.
It is a queue that goes right through the entirety of London. It has toilets and water points and websites just for The Queue.
You cannot leave The Queue. You cannot get into The Queue further down. You cannot hold places in The Queue. There are wristbands for The Queue.
Once you join The Queue you can expect to be there for days. But you cannot have a chair and a sleeping bag. There is no sleeping in The Queue, for The Queue moves constantly and steadily, day and night. You will be shuffling along at 0.1 miles per hour for days.
The BBC has live coverage of The Queue on BBC One, and a Red Button service showing the front bit of The Queue.
NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD JOIN THE QUEUE AND YET STILL THEY COME. "Oh, it'll only be until 6am on Thursday, we can take soup".
And the end of the queue is a box. You will walk past the box, slowly, but for no more than a minute. Then you will exit into the London drizzle and make your way home.
Tell me this isn't the greatest bit of British performance art that has ever happened? I'm giddy with joy. It's fantastic. We are a deeply, deeply mad people with an absolutely unshakeable need to join a queue. It's utterly glorious.
“The queue has visitors going to look at queue. My mum travelled to see the queue.”
“But surely it can't all be true?
How on earth can people stay upright & moving for 30 hrs or even 15 hrs? Surely tons and tons of people will faint, be ill, have hypos, get too tired to continue etc?
Are there any food stalls?
I'm worried about them all!”
“We don't even know if she is really in the box.”
“I'm upset you talked about the Queue without sharing links to how we can watch the Queue”
“What we need to understand is that probably 400,000 will queue & file past the Queen’s coffin but, in 20 years time, 50 million people will claim they did.
“It happened at Woodstock, at the first Pistol’s gig & Jesus probably fed 500 people.
It’s the need to become part of history”
“There you have a movie as British as it could be. You just need ten characters and how they got to the queue.”
“Of course the peak Britishness will come if the queue gets too long and the have to close it, because we will no doubt start a queue to join the queue”
“It's only a matter of time until I can be seen from space.”
“The International Space Station will be live streaming the queue from space.”
“Long live the Queue! This is what us Brits have been practicing for all these years.”
“An Englishman, even if he is alone, forms an orderly queue of one.”
“Queue-Anon: a 12-step program for those currently lining up to see the Queen who need help leaving the queue.”
“In the US we frequently call this "getting in line." I've never wanted to be in line so badly as I do right now after reading the thread above.”
I've got to go to bed, Twitter. You have been WONDERFUL. So many funny, clever, nice, kind, lovely people. I'm sorry I can't talk to you all, it's just impossible and shows no sign of slowing down.
God Save The Queue.
DS and DiL queued, making friends with a group around them. All very friendly and cheerful. But they commented on the contrast when they went into Westminster Hall - very quiet and solemn. Surreal after the queue.
Ah, Biglouis, you found the story! Thank you. I’ll search it out
There is a SF story by Keith Laumer called "In the queue" about a man sho spends years in the queue. Eventually he gets to the front and stands in front of a desk where he recieves some kind of official stamp or recognition that is of no material benefit to him. He wanders off feeling lost and depressed. He has no purpose to his life now. He gets to the back of the line and again begins to queue.
The Queue is like the Haj .
www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/muslim-pilgrims-flock-mecca-first-post-pandemic-haj-2022-07-01/
One woman from East Mids actually went round the queue ..... twice!
I wondered if anyone was still in The Queue, hoping to make new friends!
One woman from East Mids actually went round the queue ..... twice!
A sad fact is that wristbands given to access the queue have been sold on e-bay for 1000s. Who on earth would do THAT!
I joined the accessible queue with my 86 year old Mum on Saturday morning....we queued from 7.30 ...got wrist band around 12 noon and walked out of Westminster Hall at 1.30 ...
So around 6 hours....there were some gurkhas supporting and they were handing out foldable chairs and blankets but I was still in awe of the people queuing....one man next to us had only one leg and was on crutches...many in wheel chairs.....but spirits were high.
Fleur Thank you. I have sent it to DD who was in The Queue for around 13 hours and made a new group of friends and is so glad she did it.
I managed it for Winston Churchill, but doubt if I could have managed it this time, anyway I went down with COVID, so couldn'ty anyway.
Its estimated that more than 750,000 people passed in front of the queen's coffin. Thats three quarters of a million. Apparently some people did The Queue twice.
My daughter saw the Queen lying in state, queued 14 & half hours bless her ... she said she made people laugh (before people say it's disrepectful, it isn't in the slightest) they went past a jail/ dungeon where they saw skeletons, she said ... these people have been waiting a long time, & they laughed ... she went with a couple of friends, spoke & saw people on their own & joined them ...
I can't believe it was 7 miles at "peak queue"
Fleurpepper
A friend just sent me this. The Queue, The Musical
youtu.be/xHwUycV6wSY
Beautifully sung Fleur
Here is todays piece of useless information. The word queue is derived from an old French word meaning "tail"
The psychology of queueing is fascinating and something I looked into at uni. Part of the design of successful queues is to:-
Give people something to occupy themselves with while in the queue - mostly the queuers will amuse themselevs in this queue by chatting, sharing food, etc
Let them know approximately how long the delay might be - the app and various signs plus the queue marshals would serve this purpose
Give them progress indications - as above
Make sure that things are seen to be done "fairly"
Once they have got their wristband that proves they were "in" the queue they can duck in and out for toilet and food breaks.
This is why there was such an outcry against politicos and "celebrities" who were seen to be jumping the queue.
I wonder will the queue still exist after the lying in state ends? It’s taken on a life of its own now.
A friend just sent me this. The Queue, The Musical
youtu.be/xHwUycV6wSY
fascinating news item on TheQueue on BBC news www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-62930775 explaining how The Queue and its management has been in plan for decades, including a whole university department, it seems, studying the psychology of queues. Everything has gone exactly as planned well in advance.
DD queued for 13 hours and her story of how she joined the queue, she became part of a small group of other people on their own and how they buddied up and supported each other along the queue, is a text book example of what is discussed in this news item.
The Queue!
biglouis
You mean "The Queue"
Gosh yes. Of course!
You mean "The Queue"
I don't care what anyone says . I'm proud of the queue .
I've saved that BBC weather image for good ixion! Any references to twitter Queues please, I'm not on twitter.
The Queue now has its own Farcebook and Twatter accounts!
Phillipa
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