Friday, 16 September 2022
Sobering
Queen dies: A queue for the queue - mourners waiting to see coffin now placed in holding pen
Mourners are continuing to arrive at the closed queue to see the Queen lying in state - and have been placed in a holding pen.
The official queue to Westminster Hall was closed after hitting capacity at 9.50am, with officials saying it would not be reopened for at least six hours.
Not a reaction I would have expected only a few weeks ago. Pumped up by the media no doubt, but before the death of Queen Elizabeth, I would have expected a more muted reaction to her demise. Not that I gave it much thought, but it is sobering to have been so wrong.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
May I be the first to point out that HMtheQ had the good grace to wait until everyone was back from their summer hols before she expired.
I think you are seeing the silent part of UK society. The bit that isn't represented by the mainstream media, or social media, or Twitter and Instagram, or increasingly politicians. Thats why it is such a surprise when they suddenly do something en masse, because in the everyday public sphere they are completely ignored, unless to be denigrated. Brexit was a similar event, and that certainly caught everyone on the hop.
I suspect that, somewhere in many British people of CofE or aetheist persuasion, there is a deep-rooted desire - or need - to experience religious pilgrimage and this fits the bill admirably.
I wonder how "closing the queue" and a holding pen work. Is there now a queue for the queue, albeit unauthorised rather than official? Are there several "feeder queues" for it? Is a holding pen going to be suddenly opened, causing a stampede for the back of the queue? If it's controlled, then it's just a slower queue.
I hope the people in the holding pen keep their cool better than Charles, who lost it while holding a pen.
dearieme - considerate until the end.
Sobers - there is certainly a lesson in there, but I don't think the establishment is likely to learn much from it as they didn't really learn from Brexit.
Macheath - I'm sure you are right. If so, it must create a significant divide between those who feel the desire and those who don't, or don't feel it strongly enough to be moved by it.
Sam - the online queue tracker currently shows a waiting time of 22 hours. Are they mad?
Sam, we found that we had five biros that didn't work yesterday!
I guess that maybe a record, but as for queueing for eight hours, we waited several years for our fave pens to demise!
Why queue for eight hours is beyond us...
Elsewhere, some wag reported that it would be easier if they loaded the coffin on a vehicle and towed it along the quesue to save everyone waiting...
Yes they are. And they will then go on to be reigned over by King Charles III The Mad.
Scrobs - I'm sure the massive queue is seen as a bonus. They don't want to resolve it by something as simple as towing the coffin around.
Tammly - to avoid that, his main problem will be finding people who are able and willing to give him good advice. To do that, he needs to know what good advice sounds like.
AK I very much doubt, like Boris, he has the necessary intellectual hinterland.
AK I very much doubt, like Boris, he has the necessary intellectual hinterland.
Tammly - I agree, and as it's not there now it never will be.
Post a Comment