The Queue

It is probably the most peculiarly British thing I've ever known.
A five mile queue that takes the best part of a day to get through with people quietly joining it, no complaints, no fuss. All to file past the Queen's coffin on its catafalque, pausing for a brief bow, cross or curtsey before moving on again. The queue is ever moving at the speed of a lame tortoise and I'm sure there are people in there who just saw a queue and decided to join it. Even David Beckham was in The Queue.

I've never been more proud to be British.

It even makes weirdly compelling viewing and I found myself watching it for about an hour tonight, seeing how the different people react at the coffinside, how people have chosen to dress for the occasion, the number of kids that must have joined the queue this morning but were still there as it approached midnight, and the people that genuinely looked like they had been queuing for hours and hours and hours.


In other news; I had a much smaller queue, thankfully, for my autumn COVID booster at the Catrin Finch centre*.

+This is obviously a screenshot from the live stream.