gloss
The British pay their last respects to the late Queen with even more patience. Hundreds of thousands are waiting, a dragon made of bodies. Meanwhile, queues form before the queue.
At some point on Friday, the BBC reported this as breaking news, of course, the authorities closed the line, which now stretched eight kilometers through central London, a lindworm of bodies, hundreds of thousands of people strong. All driven by the desire to catch a glimpse of Her Late Majesty’s coffin in Westminster Abbey. In this case, taking a look is to be understood literally, because the average time spent in front of the wooden container was just a few seconds. Twelve, thirteen hours waiting for a moment, that’s very British. As, moreover, also the fact that the closing of the line by the police led to nothing other than another line in front of the original line. And so the authorities picked that up again, and people just meandered on, on and on.
Now, there’s probably nothing more British than queuing other than maybe British humour, which these days is all about queuing. The fact is that for those who cannot be there and miss the parade, the TV broadcasts the queue and you can also follow the whole thing online as a live tracker. A younger lady tweeted that she wasn’t sure which was crazier. Standing in line to look at a coffin with a flag on it. Or watching that line of people on TV.
Another wrote that if this continues at this slow pace, people will probably be looking at Charles’s coffin instead of the box containing the Queen’s remains. Two for the price of one, so to speak.
tea and biscuits
Incidentally, people from the inner workings of the snake reported deep solidarity when exchanging tea and biscuits and even greater understanding for those plagued by human needs, who were of course allowed to exit briefly and move in again. Guides to the best pubs and loos along the Elizabeth Line are circulated among pilgrims. A person named Brian Bilston even wrote a poem about the queue, neatly titled “The Queue”. Just the word. The Q, which provides the tone and meaning, is followed by a row of four colorfully rolled letters behind it, which silently and politely take a back seat. You don’t need them, but they’re there as reliably as the Beefeaters in front of the Tower.
That, too: a masterpiece, a semantic one. Always more eccentric, more exciting than the mean American “line” or the reptilian German equivalence.
Well, the Brits have always been the unofficial world champions in the queue. They learn this as a child and have brought it to unsurpassed perfection. They queue up patiently and disciplined everywhere. At the bus stop, in front of the entrances of theaters, cinemas, football stadiums. It’s ingrained deep in their DNA, like missing penalties in the past. George Mikes, the wonderful creator of aphorisms, noted in his classic “How to Be an Alien” as early as the 1930s that a real Englishman forms a line even when he is alone.
That may be a slight exaggeration, but only a tiny bit. Brits can snake. without exception.
Nobody pushes ahead
According to historians, the somewhat strange passion of the island’s inhabitants goes back to the times of the industrial revolution, when more and more people began to live in a smaller space and to come to terms with it. And see, they found out: The cue makes being together easy and wholesome. Since then, “jumping the queue” has been socially ostracized and about as popular as hit-and-run and incest. As just two TV presenters were able to find out who had cheated past the waiting people, then a powerful shitstorm. On the other hand, football celebrity David Beckham pushed his way through London like all the other twelve hours.
That’s how you do it.
Ethnologically, the lead of the British in these matters can be observed particularly well at airports. For example, they would never think of jumping up as soon as their flight was called. Rather, you can tell by the strolling aisle or by the fact that they quietly empty their beer and then a second one when Germans are already panicking about getting their passports and tickets out of their pockets, constantly looking at the clock – and finally forming a meaningless queue. The British lined up later, relaxed, in a good mood and tipsy at the end.
Meanwhile, breaking news from London. The Queue has just been flashed at an insane 0.5 kilometers per hour.
Source: Stern
I am a 24-year-old writer and journalist who has been working in the news industry for the past two years. I write primarily about market news, so if you’re looking for insights into what’s going on in the stock market or economic indicators, you’ve come to the right place. I also dabble in writing articles on lifestyle trends and pop culture news.
