This thread about the ‘triumphantly British’ queue to see the Queen lying-in-state is today’s best read
The images of the Queen lying in state in Westminster Hall are truly striking and if you are so minded you can watch it live on various news outlets, including Sky News.
Watch live as the Queen lies in state in Westminster Hall
— Sky News (@SkyNews) September 14, 2022
There has been no shortage of memorable and historic moments since Elizabeth II’s death, but one that isn’t going away any time soon is the extraordinary queue of people that has developed waiting to see Her Majesty.
So much so that there’s a government tracker telling you how long it is, and where you can join the end of it.
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN’S LYING-IN-STATE QUEUE UPDATE, 10:30PM, 14 Sept
The back of the queue is near Southwark Bridge
Check the tracker during the night for updates
Visit @TfL to plan your travel
Tracker: https://t.co/WImurZpIJW
Journey planner: https://t.co/XnDRCfljTD pic.twitter.com/N6xR1YVBYW— Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (@DCMS) September 14, 2022
And this exceedingly British moment – for so many reasons – has prompted no end of comment, as you might imagine.
But surely no-one put it better than @curiousiguana on Twitter in a short threat that’s gone wildly viral because, well, best have a read for yourself.
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
There is a YouTube channel, Twitter feed and Instagram page, each giving frequent updates about The Queue. Because the back of The Queue, naturally, keeps moving. To join The Queue requires up to the minute knowledge of where The Queue is now.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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”.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
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.
— ❓🦎 (@curiousiguana) September 14, 2022
And just a few of the many things people said in response.
Genuinely the best series of tweets I’ve ever read. #TheQueue https://t.co/ZlmuDgV4cj
— Georgia Tennant (@georgiaEtennant) September 15, 2022
Exceptional tweet, and bang on. It’s so good that I want to join the queue.
— Laura-Jayne (@LauraJayneW) September 14, 2022
The British people love a good queue, so it does indeed seem fitting that Her Majesty's parting gift to the Nation is possibly the greatest, most complex, technically advanced queue in history.
It makes you proud. https://t.co/Wx2zU18bdJ
— James O'Flynn (@jamesoflynn) September 14, 2022
I’ve just walked past The Queue. All I can say is nothing can prepare you for it – not even this thread
— James Harris (@JamesHarrisNow) September 14, 2022
I can understand and empathise with a lot of things, but I will never ever ever be able to fathom why anyone would want to join a 30+ hour queue. Having said that, this thread is excellent. https://t.co/JF3zOodK6W
— Matt Green (@mattgreencomedy) September 14, 2022
To conclude.
This thread—or essay, which we can title “The Queue”—is Twitter at its very, very best. https://t.co/bRNELq9JGx
— James Gleick (@JamesGleick) September 14, 2022
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Source Twitter @curiousiguana
