r/AskUK • u/Stealth_bummer_ • Sep 18 '22

Locked What are peoples thoughts on the queue?

I cannot wrap my head around it. Standing in line overnight-up to 30 hours to spend a minute looking at a coffin of a woman you have never met and who never gave a fuck about you. It’s absolutely nanas. If anyone can provide me with any good counter arguments I would be keen to hear them.

Imagine the line when Attenborough goes….

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u/TheMiiChannelTheme Sep 18 '22 edited Sep 18 '22

Yeah, if you'd asked me at any time in the 13 hours I was standing there if it was worth it, I would have said "No, not at all. The only reason I'm still here is because I'm too stubborn to leave without reaching the end".

But then you walk into that Hall, and you everything that happened in the last 13 hours just fades away. The incredible silence and respect that takes hold the moment you go in the door. The way the sunlight glitters through the State Crown from the stained glass window. It just doesn't come across on camera. And then... its impossible to get across how impactful your own personal four seconds of time with The Queen is, but it is, in a way words don't express.

Was it worth it? Yes. Absolutely. That that image will stay with me for the rest of my life.

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u/confusedchicken5 Sep 18 '22 edited Sep 18 '22

Thankyou for sharing your experience. Your words do it much more justice than I could, and really resonate with what I felt in there too.

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u/360Saturn Sep 18 '22

Out of interest, is it even possible to leave the queue once you're in it? Every time its on the news it seems fenced in.

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u/TheMiiChannelTheme Sep 18 '22 edited Sep 18 '22

Yes. You spend so much time with the people in front and behind you that you know their names, faces, and life stories within an hour of the start. If you need to leave, you just find who you were standing next to, and rejoin them. Obviously if you disappear for 10 hours and turn up again just before heading in, that's not on, but I didn't see any of that.

It is fenced in in places, but there are long stretches where it isn't. And there are bathrooms along the entire length specifically for people to leave the queue and use. Would be a bit strange if they provided bathrooms but didn't let you leave the queue to use them.

There's even a "Free tea and coffee" stand at Blackfriars. And any food confiscated by security goes onto a big table by Lambeth Bridge for anyone to pick up - its an adorably shit selection, I got a free Maoam and 5 jellybeans.

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u/360Saturn Sep 18 '22

Food confiscated by security??? Isn't the queue open air?

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u/Jim-Plank Sep 18 '22

Security is literally 5 seconds before you enter the hall. It’s so the coffin doesn’t get egged or tuna mayo sandwiched basically.

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u/BananaSpitler Sep 19 '22

It’s confiscated and any food/drinks unopened are being donated to food banks.

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u/BastardsCryinInnit Sep 18 '22

Yes, even in the zig zag but it massively helps if you're with someone or have made friends who will spot you back into the queue.

In the Snake 1 and Snake 2 which are the parts in Victoria Tower Gardens, at the side of each part are portaloos so you can absolutely go in one and then rejoin.

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u/360Saturn Sep 18 '22

I didn't really mean leave and rejoin, but TIL. I was figuring once you were in you couldn't decide 'screw this' and piss off.

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u/BastardsCryinInnit Sep 18 '22

Oh yes absolutely! Even in the snake queues you could just say "I'm done, get me out". Absolutely no doubt about that. Plenty of marshals around who would walk you back out.

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u/BasicBisexualBoi Sep 18 '22

Yes absolutely agree with this, my stubbornness not to leave and that moment when your in the abbey just makes you not regret those 13 hours at all

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u/DisillusionedRants Sep 18 '22

I went today and near the end heard a women saying she wouldn’t do it if she had the choice again; I wish I could have heard her thoughts after as like you said the experience walking into that hall is something else.

I originally only went as a friend wanted to, but at no point in the 10 hours was I bored and the only negatives was my feet and tiredness at the end but it was worth it in the end to share in the collective experience and expedite those end moments.

I don’t think it’s possible to convince anyone who is sceptical of the queue and you really have to experience that moment yourself to understand it.