Good manners

[postman]

Thankfully i do not have to go into Leeds city centre often .But today a retired get together with a few mates .So waiting at the bus stop.Travel is now free with the old bus pass.I am number five in the queue .Bus comes ,wham bam thank you .A hoard of people come in from the side of the shelter .Straight to the front .
Gone are the old British ways of queueing.Another tradition gone .It's a free for all .It must be hell at 5-30 to 6-00.Trying to get home .Thankfully all that is behind me .

 

[661-Pete]

Can't say I've had that experience, indeed, for me people still seem to be well-up on this queueing business. But then I don't often have to go by bus. Did you still get on the bus, get a seat? If so, why worry?

Mind you, try boarding an Easyjet flight these days! Forget this 'Priority boarding' cr@p, forget all the 'boarding sequence A, B, C' stuff, it's everyone for him/herself and a real old scramble to the gate when the first call comes!

 

[ianrauk]

The British art of queuing for buses has completely disappeared in London.

 

[gbb]

The future doesn't look rosy either...
When it's home time from the local school, our local bus stop becomes a free for all. It;s the kids, not the adults. My wife has often berated them, she's even taken to blocking the entrance and demanding they take thier turn. complaining to the school does no good...'ah but they're off school premises, there's nothing we can do'...which is doubtless true, but in some circumstances, they do make it their business when it suits them.
God help us when this lot come of age.

Interestingly (and i may have told this before), i was talking to my dad about this. he said, but no-one used to queue before the war...it always used to be a free for all. It was only rationing that made queuing neccessary. It kind of stuck since then.
BTW, i NEVER queue for a bus when i'm on holiday amongst foreigners. Its a free for all and no-one expects anything different, but wouldn't dream of not queuing when i'm home.

 

[BigAndyH]

In my school days we had to share a bus stop with our "rival" school. When the bus arrived someone would shout "civilians on first" and we would wait, but once it was only school kids left than it was a free for all. If it looked to much of a scrum the driver would often close the doors and drive off, leaving us all to walk.

Having said that it was nothing compared to the "queue" for a ski lift in France; the French adults seem to encourage their children to push in.

 

[Archie_tect]

Used to smile at the space British families could fill preventing Johnny Foreigners from getting past in queues at Disneyland Paris many years ago.... especially the wiry little kids who could worm their way past most things.

I used to relax at the outdoor cafes drinking coffee and reading while the children and better half went on the rides.

 

[Archie_tect]

'Unstructured queuing' must be the most stressful experience I know.... because if you fail to beat them at their own game you may never get on the bus/ train/ lift.

Worst experience was at Campino airport trying to get the bus into Rome... those Italian grannies have sharp elbows!

 

[Twenty Inch]

I have great laughs watching foreigners of all stripes attempting to board crowded Moscow metro trains.

 

[Ste T.]

Some times the old rose tinted help.
My old dad once told me about being in a massive queue at a train station in London waiting for the barriers to open for everyone to get on. He was a submariner going home on leave. During the war seats were highly prized because trains were so heavily oversubscribed and journeys took much longer because of the bomb damaged tracks. The barriers opened and all hell broke lose with a general free for all. He said he could still hear the cut glass voice of a WAAF officer struggling with two suitcases " You beasts, you beasts! " as everybody ran past her.

 

[coffeejo]

You can't queue inside "my" bus shelter in Taunton as it never occurred to the powers that be that it would be useful to be able to see up the road. Opposite, yes. The pavement behind, yes. From whence the buses come .... no!

 

[Deb13b]

Bus stops aren't too bad here for queues. People generally join the queue and stay in place. But in shops I notice a lot starting to push in which does my head in. And it's not kids, it's usually women 40+.