Britain can easily be crowned as the nation with the greatest queueing capability and capacity. Running into a few kilometres, the queue to pay tributes to Queen Elizabeth is only growing and it has the scope of doing so for the next few days.
Clad in a bright magenta cardigan, with a portable chair tucked at the back, Jo came all the way from Dorset “to do her bit,” at the lying in state of the Queen.
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While finding out how to get to the end of the queue, yet another woman met her. Both became friends and decided to stick around and make the most of the evening considering they might be in for a long haul. They duly found out about where to go to get to the end of the queue and off they went to join it, debating whether to take the tube or walk. Sadly, the big bag with the essentials to camp and the chairs had to be left mid-way.
A government department has been assigned the task of managing the arrangements. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sports, is responsible for the arrangements and is thus giving live updates on how long the queues are, where to and how to join them. There is a special live queue tracker, a dedicated YouTube channel and a hashtag. Arrangements of portable loos have been made along with the volunteers to guide citizens to them.
Military, police, civil servants, ordinary people, those connected with organisations like the Salvation Army or Red Cross and possibly 1000 volunteers are readily visible in high fluorescent colour coded jackets. Yellow for the police, blue for the civil servants and volunteers in orange.
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Colour coded and numbered bands are being used to tag people. Bags or chairs are not allowed till the end.
For Jo and her new-found friend it would mean a good 40 minutes going to the bag deposit centre, then the same to find the band centre. Both the women did not flinch an eyebrow at this. One wondered why such commitment to the Queue! Why would one want to do this?
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“She [the Queen] was a constant,” said Jo’s friends. “She was like a nan!” she further added. “She felt safe,” they said.
These are pretty much the common thread. Regard for the Queen is transcending the opinion about the monarchy. The Queen unites. The great British queue is an example.
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