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Hi, everyone and welcome back to Britain Under the Microscope. 欢迎回来【闲话英伦】Hi, 安澜.

Hi Lulu, hi everyone.

Before we start today's topic, let me ask you a question.

Sure.

What is British people's favorite sport？

We talked about that, it was... we talked about football didn't we, in the past？

No. Not football.

Rugby?

Nope.

Cricket?

No.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

It's something that everybody in the UK enjoys and it doesn't matter how old you are, it doesn't matter if you're a man or a woman, it is queueing.

I thought you're  going to say drinking there for a moment.

No.

But we do enjoy a nice queue. We do like to line up and wait for things.

排队. This is a running joke isn't it that British people love queueing？Even if there's only one person there, the automatic setting is to go and line up？

Well. To be honest, I always say it's a little bit of exaggerated to say that we love queueing. I don't think anyone really likes to wait for things.

I've actually seen that happen in the UK.

OK.

If you put a sign please queue here, you will see British people queue there.

Yes.

Why are British people known for queueing？

It all starts from the industrial revolution, really.

It has a historical reason.

There were more and more people working in factories and we were pretty much one of the first countries in the world to industrialize.

So you had all of these big cities, and for them to work, people had to learn to wait, they had to learn how to queue to make sure that everyone got everything that they need.

OK, so factory working.

So like factory working or queueing in shops, queueing for transport. But I would say it's also from the world wars, World WarⅠand World WarⅡ.

Because of the rationing.

Because you have to wait for you turn for food.

那种配给制度, 一个人分一点食物的 waiting for your term for food.

And that was seen as something that should be encouraged. And it was encouraged by the government. It was encouraged by pretty much everybody because the whole idea of queueing, it's democratic and fair.

I have to beg to differ here. Many countries actually went through that sort of rationing period. But think it... you will only start really form the habit of queueing if there's going to be enough food for everyone.

Yes. I would say that is the important factor because queueing is not just something that we do because we enjoy queueing. It's also linked to how we consider ourselves and consider other people.

As I say, it's democratic, it's fair. Everybody has their turn and you have to wait for your turn. That's something that is really strongly emphasized when we were at school. Also by our parents, the idea that you don't push into a queue, you have to wait your turn because that's what you have to do.

It's just a decent thing to do.

Exactly.

I think a lot of it goes into education and sort of parenting. It has been drilled into you.

Yeah. It's now even a part of the citizenship test.

Oh. If you want to become a British citizen, you have to learn how to queue.

You have to learn how to queue, and you also have to answer questions about queueing.  It is important. I remember reading somewhere that we spend 47 days of our life in a queue.

Like British people, 一生中47天都是排队.

Yeah.

But where do British people queue? Like literally everywhere for everything.

Pretty much. Yeah. I would say bus stops is a bit difficult really. Because…

No, I've seen people lining up at bus stops.

No, they line up. But the problem is that the queue always breaks down when the bus comes because people aren't really sure kind of who is waiting for which bus.  So whenever I wait for a bus, I always find it really complicated, because you are waiting behind somebody and they don't move because it's not their bus. 

No. The situation that I always see in England is really… for example, they're like three buses stopping there. People just automatically form three queues.

eah. It does happen.

The front queuer would say I'm waiting for number 123. So people would ask him actually.

Yeah.

That was interesting, but there was one place I noticed and we've also talked about this where you don't really see an actual queue that is in the pubs在英国的酒馆里, 在那个点酒的时候是不排队的.

We did talk about that, pubs are different because it's still a queque, but it's what we call a mental queue.

It's a queue in your heart.

It's a queue in your heart. Everybody knows who came first.

For example, if you're waiting in a bar, you look around, you can see who is there before you. The bartender would come up and say who's the next. I would say this person or this gentleman, this lady was in front of me.

Wow. So I have to pay attention to others… what if I'm just playing on my phone and I'm not paying any attention to it and I jumped a queue. That's a huge social faux pas.

People will shout at you.

Ha ha ha.

People will get very very angry.

And the person who is taking the order, I don't think he's  going to even respond to me. Or he's probably  going to say he came first.

That's what we mean by a mental queue, because everybody knows who came first, who came last. If you're in front of the queue, then you just say it's me. And that's absolutely fine. You don't have to wait for someone to say this guy.

You also thought you said it's the pub, I forgot the name, the one who's taking the orders behind the bar.

The landlord, bartender.

It's those people's responsibility to remember who came first, who came second.

Not really, because they probably don't see because they're busy pouring drinks or they're kind of like going around back. That's why they do ask who's next.

So you have to remember, okay, so pay attention when you're queueing at the bar.

Yes.

What was the longest queue you've seen in the UK?

I think you know what the longest queue was. It was the one to see the Queen's coffin in September 2022.

When the Queen passed away.

When she passed away. That queue actually just became known in England as The Q, capital Q.

The Q. How long was that queue?

About 16 kilometers？

16 kilometers.  How long did that take, the whole day？

Pretty much, took between 8 and 13hours, I think.

And also for sporting events like Wimbledon, the tennis, there's always a queue for that.

Mhm.

But these type of queues are very good-natured because everybody is…

They have a sense of camaraderie.

They have a sense of community almost. Because they're all waiting for the same thing. They're all there for the same reason, and let's face it, spending 8 hours in a queue, you probably will start talking to people. You will get bored very quickly.

I see. Now towards the end of today's topic, let's talk about some of the rules of a queue.

Obviously, in other places in China as well, we do queue. There are some general rules like you always go to the back of the queue. You don't jump the queue or push in. What would people do？Would they shout if you try to jump the queue?

They won't shout at you in that way, but they will be very angry and make it clear. So British people, they don't kind of say gets the back of the queue. They just go oh.

Thank you just describing yourself.

No, I'm not just describing myself. This happens quite a lot, so they will just go “oh~” and then they'll start complaining about you to other people in the queue.

There was just hint at you to... This only works if this person is not completely shameless.

I do remember I was reading this book by an anthropologist who was studying in the UK and she was actually a British person.

And I always remember a passage when she was researching about queueing, she actually had to have a few whiskeys, just so that she can like jump the queue because she was so embarrassed, but she had to do it for her research that…

She could always hire people to do it.

She could only do it after a few drinks.

I see. What happens…actually, there are two other scenarios and 安澜 just tell me how British people would react. 

First is, for example, my friend is in the queue, like for example, James is in the queue and I came later and I said, James, James like Oh, yeah, come and stand with me, talk with me. So I sort of joined the queue. My friend James is already there in the queue is that considered jumping the queue as well？

To a certain extent, yes, it's kind of somewhat acceptable. I always get really embarrassed if that happens. I could make a big deal, say, Oh, look, James, hi there. Hi. Sorry I'm late. Thanks for joining the queue and I would make this really, really loud so everyone could hear.

Is it okay for someone to hold your spot like you want to go buy something, have lunch or go to the loo?

If for a long time that's not good. That's one of the things that I find really annoying in supermarkets. And also my mom, bless her. I find really annoying that she does sometimes, where in the queue waited for the checkout and then she'll go I've just forgotten something. And she'll just run off.

My mom does that, too.

I really can't stand. I get so embarrassed because I'm the one actually waiting in the queue.

对于我们社恐的人来说这些 yeah, 我是偶尔也会社恐. This is one of the situations which gives me social anxiety.

Yeah.

What about switching queues like…It doesn't matter, right？If you're at the end of the queue, you just switching lines going backwards.

You can switch lines, but you just always have to start at the back of the queue. You can't just kind of say because I’m at the front of this queue, I should be at the front of that queue, doesn't work like that.

If you watch any British TV shows or movies, you see a lot of like especially comedy you see a lot of jokes about queueing.

Yes, it's something that we do a lot and there are all of these different rules.

So when in doubt, always go to the back of the queue or ask someone, excuse me, is this the back of the queue？Are you waiting？If you do that, you can't go wrong.

Yeah. I've been in the awkward situation where my social anxiety flared up and I didn't ask anyone. I just thought I joined the queue, but it turns out that wasn't the back of the queue.  I've been given some pretty dirty look.

Exactly. And in Britain being given a dirty look is like the worst things that could ever happen to you.

In your logic, I think.

Yeah. 

So that wraps up this really lighthearted topic about queueing, British people's national sport. If you have anything to add about queueing, what do you think about it and have you had any interesting experience？

And if you have any questions about queueing in the UK, feel free to ask.

Leave us a comment in the comment section. We'll see you next time.

Bye.

Bye.