How to queue well has always been an instinctive national skill – we don’t teach it in school, we don’t discuss it at home, but somehow it is passed down through the generations, a folk tradition like hunting or lovemaking but much more important.
When confronted with a queue, a British person’s situational awareness is immediately heightened. On the surface we appear calm, but if something happens we can react spontaneously and expertly. If, for example, another till opens, we will, with only a few almost imperceptible nods, divide ourselves into two new and entirely equitable queues. If we’re doing a monthly two-trolley shop and the person behind us is buying only a lemon, we will scroll through a thousand pros and cons (demeanour, age,
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