seems to be some yelling going on outside now.

I’m watching, I can’t tell why but it’s becoming compelling, a bit like a visual version of ASMR

I’m also interested. The main demographic is pretty much what I expected but there is a real cross section as well, lots of younger people, single men, etc. I don’t really get it but in an odd way I like the simple Britishness of it (I know way more nationalities are there, but they’re all being very British about it)

Favourite visitors so far though were what looked like three extras from Live and Let die.

I’m watching, I can’t tell why but it’s becoming compelling

Slow TV. But it’s going to go on a lot longer than Sleighride or the bus across the Yorkshire Dales.

Are they queuing properly in Mecca though?

No, there’s usually a stampede, a crush and many dead.

I bet there’s no foreign visitors in the queue either

Apparently random selection for a vox pop on Radio 4 this morning included some Canadians and some Kiwis who had come over especially for the funeral, and had gone straight from airport to queue.
.
They may have just picked the the interesting ones to broadcast though

pisstaking aside, and accepting there are some there because of virtue signalling, or a sense of duty, there are some people who are genuinely and deeply touched by this. A youngish guy just now, eyes full of tears. Whatever the thoughts on why and whether there should be a royal family or monarch to feel that deeply about, I don’t think even the staunch anti-monarchists can deny that the Queen was much loved and admired by very many people from all walks of life.

Why isn’t it an open casket?

Remains to be seen?

There’s a tracker here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NpZuGxSgZY

I feel like there are shenanigans to be had here.

Appeals only sligtly less than the queue to get into Wimbledon.

As I’m a true Brit when I saw the queue I felt compelled to join it. After about 15 hours someone mentioned it was for the Queen so I left, I had assumed it was for a new iPhone or something.

Its nauseating. Most of the people in the queue would not do the same for members of their own family.

As TJ said earlier, mass hysteria.

Most of the people in the queue would not do the same for members of their own family.

That’s a strange thing to say.

I would imagine Mecca attracts bigger queues during Hajj. In fact there could be queues of refugees either crossing borders or at refugee camps that exceed this

Have you been through passport control at Luton Airport?

The epitome of Britishness

People always suggest its a British thing to queue. What’s the alternative? Do people really not take turns in other countries?
Is everything really just a free for all?
Could see a lot of fights happening.

They seem to have increased the Queens queue to a two-lane job now.
Sensible.

I’m liking the changing of the guard thing and the unnecessarily silly walks.
They change them every 20 minutes I think which seems a bit frequent to me.

This queue will be insignificant compared to the queues for food rations and lumps of coal that’ll soon be upon us.

They seem to have increased the Queens queue to a two-lane job now.

Please, please can it be called the Elizabeth Line?

They seem to have increased the Queens queue to a two-lane job now.

Please, please can it be called the Elizabeth Line?

Posted 6 minutes ago

QUE II?

You could turn it into one hell of a pub crawl.

Kind of feels like a game of Mornington Crescent – as you finally reach the coffin after hours of convoluted movement around London obeying a particular set of archaic rules known only to the participants, you get to shout MORNINGTON CRESCENT! as you file past.

Or maybe it should be Mourning-ton Crescent…

Yes!

I bet there’s no foreign visitors in the queue either.

There’s plenty from the people interviewed by the BBC this morning.

I’m liking the changing of the guard thing and the unnecessarily silly walks.
They change them every 20 minutes I think which seems a bit frequent to me.

Those hats look pretty heavy to be wearing with head bowed. I bet their necks get pretty stuff, pretty quickly! Maybe there are loads of them that want a go, too? They should get Daniel Craig to do a shift as a cameo!

They seem to have increased the Queens queue to a two-lane job now.
Sensible.

Dear lord! If they’re expecting the lanes to merge, we may end up with a civil war.

Why isn’t it an open casket?

Remains to be seen?

@tenfoot – bravo sir! 😂

People always suggest its a British thing to queue. What’s the alternative? Do people really not take turns in other countries?
Is everything really just a free for all?

Have you never waited for a bus at a resort in Lanzarote ?
A handful of Brits will be there in an orderly queue, well ahead of time and within milliseconds of the bus turning up, a hundred Germans will appear with sharpened elbows and a steely determination to avoid eye contact. All notions of queuing are gone and the scene resembles the last days of Saigon as our Teutonic cousins trample their own children into the pavement in an effort to climb on board.
In fairness this method would make the livestream of the coffin more entertaining?

The most awesome non-queue I every fought my way through was at Venice railway station left luggage. Early evening just before all the inter-rail popular trains left for other European destinations. I’ll never forget it, the choice was get stuck in and get it done, or miss your connection. Brilliant.

Fake, attention seeking ‘look at me’ virtue signalling drivel.

Would rather crap in my hands and clap.

I wonder how many of them realise they cant take a selfie for their instatwatterbook feeds of them in front of the coffin. That should get rid of a good number.

If this is what people really want to do with their time then that up to them but I really really cant even begin to comprehend why they would want to.

I bet it’s an empty coffin.

I reckon too, they did a switcheroo!

@duncancallum wins the interweb today.

It is a great word though, The actual important letter at the front, with 4 more waiting silently behind.

Does STW we need a meta thread to discuss what Queen related threads it is respectful to have? We’ve already got;

The Queue thread
The Thoughts (and What Should Be Done With The Monarchy) thread
The Surprise Bank Holiday thread

Honourary Mentions:

The Sweaty Nonce thread has gone full Queen
The Liz Truss thread has gone full Queen

Missing any?

Please, please can it be called the Elizabeth Line?

RE the Tube line.

All the other routes are labeled without the word Line.

Hammersmith
Circle
etc.

and then theres

Elizabeth Line.

so is it the Elizabeth Line line?
and if so, is this queue the Elizabeth Line line line?

Still a way to go to buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

It is a great word though, The actual important letter at the front, with 4 more waiting silently behind.

But, remove the silent letters and you get The Q:

If this is what people really want to do with their time then that up to them but I really really cant even begin to comprehend why they would want to.

They interviewed someone yesterday who was self-employed so had lost a couple of days pay to travel to London and shuffle along in a queue for 10 hours

They asked her why and she said: “some people do nothing with their lives, but I’ll be able to tell my grandkids that I did this.”

Rather pales by comparison to “daddy, what did you do in the war” really, doesn’t it.

I wonder how many of them realise they cant take a selfie

All of them? I don’t think the idea of taking a selfie of yourself with a coffin figures in the minds of many people.

Made the mistake of switching on BBC Breakfast this morning. Only to see The Queue… And an interview with a “Royal correspondent” about The Queue. I didn’t catch what she said. All very baffling.

and shuffle along in a queue for 10 hours

If I’d committed to the promise of a 30 hour queue and it only took 10 hours I think I’d be disappointed.

I suppose you could always go round again.

I don’t think the idea of taking a selfie of yourself with a coffin figures in the minds of many people.

Hard to prove the catafalqutual.

(Yes I worked hard on that. Very hard. Word repurposed from Jimmy Saville’s time lying in state in a Leeds hotel as people filed past to pay their respects. The name of the hotel you ask? The Queen’s. Makes you think…)

They should get Daniel Craig to do a shift as a cameo!

Word up.

I don’t think the idea of taking a selfie of yourself with a coffin figures in the minds of many people.

I suppose you could always go round again.

When she was lying in rest in Edinburgh there was a lady on the news who was boasting about the fact that she had been round seven times!

I know this sounds really snobby but looking at the photos of the queue, the people in it and listening to some of the interviews, the queuers don’t really come across as being our finest and smartest members of society.