The Humble Queue

What can I say? I'm British...

Now, I'm sure I've written about queuing before. I was deeply frustrated in China many many times by the almost complete lack of queuing. Anywhere. I remember getting excited [I know!] at Bank of China because there was a system of taking numbers and waiting your turn. It did go a bit wrong from time to time as someone tried to push in for a 'quick' query etc and wasn't turned away by the bank employee... but still. Then I was pointed in the direction of the 'foreigners only' queue and found that I could blatantly jump the queue. It all felt a bit wrong.

Still, there were still bus stations, train stations, bus stops, fast food restaurants, public toilets and, well, you get the idea.

So, it was great to be back in Britain over the summer and participate in effective, civilised queuing (mostly!) Coming to Spain, I didn't really know what to expect with regard to queues, but so far things have been entirely satisfactory. From experience at the post office and the doctor's, even if there is no obvious line in sight someone will invariably announce as you arrive that they are the last person in the queue, so you just have to watch them to know when it is your turn. And if no one does make such an announcement, then feel free to ask around for the last person. Long discussions can ensue, especially if someone was going to join the queue, but then went to check if they were in fact in the right queue. So are they still (despite being physically absent) in the queue? And don't forget to take into account the (usually) older members of the queue who may have decided to sit down on nearby seats, not necessarily in order...

That said, I still prefer going out in China. All done and dusted by 11pm (at the very latest) and you have plenty of time to recover from the evil baijiu you've been 'forced' to drink.

Hasta whenever...