Among the noteworthy incidents taken place in the United Kingdom with the passing away of Queen Elizabeth II on 8th of September 2022, is the enormously long queue of mourners lined to pay their last respect to the late Queen at the Palace of Westminister in London. The queue was miles long and people wait for more than 14 hours to reach the final destination; Westminister Hall which sits within the Palace of Westminister. They wanted to celebrate the life of their queen, pay respect or simply to witness an iconic event. A digital app shows the path of the queue, notify the start of the queue, gives updates of nearest facilities and tea/coffee making spots. This drawn-out queue is monitored using CCTV cameras, monitored by the Police. In fact, it is the most watched, googled queue in the UK and in the world currently. It is the queue of the queue, ‘The Queue’.
An Englishman, even is he’s alone, will form an orderly queue of one.
George Mikes
Not only English, queuing is what most Britons are renowned for doing -better than most of the other nations. As an expatriate living in the United Kingdom, I can vouch that British queueing manners are far better when standing in a line, waiting for the turn and respecting the personal space of the person ahead of you.
Further, we are familiar with ‘social distancing’ queues two years ago due to Covid-19 pandemic. People queued to shop for essential purchasing needs of their lives – at grocery stores, super markets, butchers, restaurants, and clothe shopping, etc. This is common for nationals of most of the other countries who were heavily affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, including Sri Lanka, my home country.
According to my personal experience, manners of Sri Lankans behaviour in queuing is far inferior compared to the British. A vast majority of Sri Lankan hardly respect the order of a queue and would not hesitate to jump ahead of a queue covertly or even by force. They hardly respect the personal space of the person ahead. I often had argued while living in Sri Lanka for disrespecting the order of a queue or invading my personal space.
There were ‘socially distanced’ queues for grocery stores, transport, medical facilities in Sri Lanka during the Covid-19 pandemic similar to other countries. While others ditch the queues during post-Covid period, Sri Lankans had to tolerate queues- to buy essential groceries, fuel, cooking gas, and fertiliser for farming. These queues are long, just like ‘The Queue’, however, the atmosphere is rather different. Sri Lankans was crushed from the economic hardships and arbitrary management of the country. These essentials were scarce, hence the public had to stand in a queue to buy them. The Sri Lankan public was angry and desperate to buy the limited commodities. Some people died while standing in the queue, some were murdered, and robbed. Military persons had to be deployed in order to maintain order of the queue. Most recently, when Brits queue in London, Sri Lankans queue in Colombo for a ‘walk-in’ interview conducted by the Qatar Airways. The queue was several miles long.
Recently nationals of both countries stayed on queues, British wanted to celebrate the life of their late queen, Sri Lankans wanted survive their lives. Thereupon, a queue here and a queue there – different purpose and a different experience.
All the photos were taken from the internet.
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