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Original poster

Has anyone been to the Lying In State and wished they hadn't bothered?

330 replies

Reallybadidea · 17/09/2022 14:38

Just being nosey really. I'm not the most patient of people and can't imagine queuing for hours for anything. Has anyone been and found it a bit of a letdown once they got to the end (beginning?) of The Queue?

OP posts:
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 17/09/2022 15:48

They will have been looking towards the coffin, you are only seeing one fixed camera angle and it can be deceptive

Maybe, but a lot seemed to be just looking down - and more staring at their feet rather than with head bowed reverentially.

I don't understand people doing it in the first place (not criticising at all - each to their own), but I cannot understand why you'd queue for so long for something lasting a minute and then not be really bothered to make the most of it.

Practically speaking, I suppose those who had been waiting for so many hours, overnight without a chance to rest or sit down, may just have been absolutely exhausted by the time they got there.

GoingOnce · 17/09/2022 15:49

I wonder how many people dropped out of the queue. I am the type who would think it was a good idea but I wouldn’t have stood in the cold for very long and would probably have given up and gone home

I actually do know somebody who queued for 6 hours earlier in the week but had to give up and go home because they had to be back to collect their children from school. It was on the first day when the queue was generally a bit shorter. Still. She didn’t feel it had been a waste. 🤷‍♀️

Booklover3 · 17/09/2022 15:51

There’s not a chance I could go because I couldn’t stand for so long… and I sure as hell wouldn’t take my children. It would be miserable for them. Fair play to anyone who wants to though but I do think the kids should be left at home. Especially young ones.

Antarcticant · 17/09/2022 15:52

Hotandbothereds · 17/09/2022 15:36

Wow that’s some classic north/south divide snobbery there.

Nobody in the godforsaken northern realms of Manchester has ever been to that there London clearly 🙄

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Aye, neer mind it, she'll 'a done overtime at mill or summat for t'extra brass.

Summerslam · 17/09/2022 15:54

I find the whole queue for the queue for the queue thing baffling, and I'm sure if it wasn't televised, there wouldn't have been so many people deciding to pay their respects. Good for them though, if they feel that they need to do this. Personally, I can't see the point, and if my children were small, not something I would ever consider.

I can still pay my respects to Her Majesty without needing public affirmation.

WrongWayApricot · 17/09/2022 15:54

I can imagine taking my kid just to show him, but I don't think I could handle it. 4 years old and god knows what they talked about in school. He has asked me over and over again if we're going to see the Queen, are his friends seeing the Queen, will we see the Queen on Monday, who's going to see the Queen. When I told him at pick up that I doubt we're going, he raised his voice to the general crowd to shout 'we're not seeing the Queen, we're going to do something else!' as if it was beneath us 🙈 then immediately went back to asking me if his friends are seeing the Queen.

I feel even if I did take him the questions would just increase. He also has a habit of whenever starting anything asking when it will finish. So it will be 12 hours of him asking me when the end of the queue will be and if his friends will be there and everyone near us thinking I've dragged him there.

Luckily Unfortunately my mum has taken him out to look at buses, so I won't have to answer any maddening questions about the Queen or buses for a few hours today.

WimbyAce · 17/09/2022 15:54

I wonder if the queue in itself is what draws some people, as in the challenge to complete it.

RomainingCalm · 17/09/2022 15:56

I suspect that there are more people who have queued and are now feeling disappointed that they didn't make 'friends that they would keep in touch with for the rest of their lives' since according to the news everyone else apparently has.

Or that they were unlucky enough to be in the queue next to Janet and Roy who spent 8 hours sharing their entire life history, the 100 walks they completed in the Lake District, Roy's bowel problems and the achievements of all their family.

TwoLeftSocksWithHoles · 17/09/2022 15:57

Antarcticant · 17/09/2022 15:52

Aye, neer mind it, she'll 'a done overtime at mill or summat for t'extra brass.

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Hope she knows that we use that new decimal money down here now, and we call those horseless trams buses.

PugInTheHouse · 17/09/2022 15:57

My DS went with his school, they got a coach at midnight Thursday for roughly 2 hrs then walked a mile to the end of the queue. They queued for exactly 12 hrs. It was Y10 & 11, 58 children plus quite a few teachers. There are only about 80 children in total in those year groups so quite a high uptake.

They were exhausted as the trip itself was over 30 hrs, they couldn't really rest as the queue moved constantly but I haven't heard them complain it wasn't worth it. There are some children of military families whom it meant a lot to and there are others who understand the significance if the occasion even if they don't really feel the same emotion adults do.

I know lots of people who have gone and they genuinely do not regret it. Why would you go if you weren't really bothered about paying your respects.

Westfacing · 17/09/2022 15:59

ThisIsNotAFlyingToy · 17/09/2022 14:44

No-one will admit it. Just saw a woman on the news, getting the bus from Manchester on her own to go. Probably spending money she can't really afford.

I saw that too - she's never been to London before, going on her own, with only a bottle of water and a onesie in her bag Sad

bootseason · 17/09/2022 16:02

And as for putting it on social media, I don't think that makes a difference, and I agree a lot of people were going for family that couldn't do the queue as well, partly. I sent tonnes of photos to my mum and sister as they'd have been there with me if they could have done it. One is too elderly and one had to work.

People take small children to many things that aren't appropriate, I didn't take mine but I don't think it's a big deal that some did. It's hardly mid-winter.

Lovemusic33 · 17/09/2022 16:04

I don’t see how anyone can be disappointed 🤣, it is what it is (a coffin containing the queen).
I know someone who is in the queue now, they have been there since the early hours and are expected to get to the front by 7pm. It’s not something I would waste a day doing but each to their own.

Oblomov22 · 17/09/2022 16:06

I wouldn't and wonder if some do it just so that they can them claim they did.

hellosally · 17/09/2022 16:08

I went to see the flowers after work yesterday in green park and found it beautiful and serene.I am really glad I went, but had a reasonably short journey and not sure I could have done the queue part. someone I know did and was completely, genuinely overwhelmed by it. its nice to have been part of it and it feels totally different to just watching onTV

Homewardbound2022 · 17/09/2022 16:08

Interesting piece in today's Times about the psychology of queueing!

CaptainBarbosa · 17/09/2022 16:10

RomainingCalm · 17/09/2022 15:56

I suspect that there are more people who have queued and are now feeling disappointed that they didn't make 'friends that they would keep in touch with for the rest of their lives' since according to the news everyone else apparently has.

Or that they were unlucky enough to be in the queue next to Janet and Roy who spent 8 hours sharing their entire life history, the 100 walks they completed in the Lake District, Roy's bowel problems and the achievements of all their family.

😂😂 this tickled me, had I gone knowing my luck I'd have ended up with such people, and me being me would have been polite, faked interest and engaged with them the whole way, praying to get inside to the silence never mind her majesty!

Original poster
Reallybadidea · 17/09/2022 16:12

CaptainBarbosa · 17/09/2022 16:10

😂😂 this tickled me, had I gone knowing my luck I'd have ended up with such people, and me being me would have been polite, faked interest and engaged with them the whole way, praying to get inside to the silence never mind her majesty!

Show quote history

I agree, it's one of the reasons I wouldn't do it, the pressure to make polite conversation for all that time and the worry that I might be stuck with someone really annoying - or even worse, someone who clearly finds me really annoying 😂

OP posts:
sunnydaytoday0 · 17/09/2022 16:13

Some of the wristbands are already on ebay..😆

Stripeystrip201 · 17/09/2022 16:17

I've been wondering how many of those in the queue have ever made the effort to see the queen at a public event? Wouldn't it have been better to have seen her alive than walk past her coffin for a few seconds?

Doingprettywellthanks · 17/09/2022 16:18

PugInTheHouse · 17/09/2022 15:57

My DS went with his school, they got a coach at midnight Thursday for roughly 2 hrs then walked a mile to the end of the queue. They queued for exactly 12 hrs. It was Y10 & 11, 58 children plus quite a few teachers. There are only about 80 children in total in those year groups so quite a high uptake.

They were exhausted as the trip itself was over 30 hrs, they couldn't really rest as the queue moved constantly but I haven't heard them complain it wasn't worth it. There are some children of military families whom it meant a lot to and there are others who understand the significance if the occasion even if they don't really feel the same emotion adults do.

I know lots of people who have gone and they genuinely do not regret it. Why would you go if you weren't really bothered about paying your respects.

Optional?

not a bloody chance I would make my teen go on this nonsense of a school trip if they didn’t want to

MsBombastic555 · 17/09/2022 16:18

All I'm thinking is that they're going to be so fucking shattered by the time they're there, they won't get as much out of it as they would otherwise 😟 how can they possibly appreciate when they're that uncomfortable from queuing and no sleep? I would just be glad it's over! But then I would have made the choice to do that. The queue is too long now it's become a "thing" in itself..incidentally I wonder how long the world's longest queue was? 🤔 I'm thinking along guinness book of record lines now..

sunglassesonthetable · 17/09/2022 16:20

Some of the wristbands are already on ebay..😆

Probably that lady from Manchester who couldn't afford it. Scraping together the bus fare.

🙄

SomethingFast · 17/09/2022 16:20

One of my neighbours has been, a single bloke in his thirties. He said the atmosphere was overwhelming and indescribable.

sunglassesonthetable · 17/09/2022 16:21

*ThisIsNotAFlyingToy
No-one will admit it. Just saw a woman on the news, getting the bus from Manchester on her own to go. Probably spending money she can't really afford.

The demographic I would hazard a guess definitely leans towards those on a low income or benefits.

Not PC but I suspect the truth.

and before anyone mentions “David beckham”… “leans towards” doesn’t mean “all”!*

You couldn't make this sort of shit up.