ABC Wednesday – Q is for Queues

Published on by Margaret

ABC Wednesday is the place to share a photograph, piece of art or poetry each week. This week it’s the letter Q.

Queuing is not my favourite activity – I always pick the wrong queue at the supermarket for instance. All the other queues move much quicker than the one I’m in. I’m too impatient to wait patiently but I know that if I move to another queue that one will slow down immediately – there will be a query about the price, or the till roll will need changing or the till operator has to go on a break. And those people who queue-jump are most annoying.

Queues at airports are even more frustrating. You’ve dashed to get there hours before take-off as you’re told to do and then queue up to check in, only to be told that the flight’s delayed and then hang around for hours before the announcement to board and then rush to the plane.

Hospital waiting rooms are just as bad. You check in at the reception desk, then sit in the waiting area. Then a nurse calls your name, good you think, and walk off behind her, only to go to yet another waiting area. I always take a book, but it’s hard to concentrate what with crying children, and chatty people all around you, not to mention worrying what the doctor will say or do when you eventually get called through.

These days you also have to queue on the phone, listening to horrible music, interspersed with announcements telling you that ‘your call is important to us’ and ‘you are now number …  5 …  in the queue.’

But here’s a queue I do like. This is my queue of books waiting to be read. These are just the A-L books. I’d lined them up on the floor to sort them in A-Z author order before putting them on the bookcase.

Arranging Books 1

 

21 thoughts on “ABC Wednesday – Q is for Queues”

  1. Margaret – I’m a kindred spirit; I do not like to queue. Queues are inevitable, but like you, I try to avoid them if I can, and I am not on my best behaviour if they don’t move quickly. But yes, a queue of books is an entirely different thing, and I do enjoy thinking of the books awaiting me. Until I realise how many there are… ;-).

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  2. I don’t enjoy queuing either. The worst ones of all are the traffic queues – jams that go on for miles with no discernible cause. My books don’t queue – they pile!!

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  4. Another really bad queue: traffic jams! You just stand there or are moving very slowly and all of a sudden everybody moves again and there was nothing to be seen that might have caused it.

    Good queue: the books (as you mentioned) and all the Christmas dvd’s coming in through the mail that I haven’t seen yet! It certainly beats the lines in front of the till…

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  7. I actually thin there might be no word on my island for queuing as no one seems to be able to form one line but five at a bustop. A post we all seem to share your feelings with

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  9. I don’t like queueing too much either, though I’m more patient about it than i used to be (the secret is having a book!)

    Your book queue reminds me of mine….. Lots of books to be read!

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  10. Great post for the Q Day, it reminded me once again of how I hate Queues — for the most part!!! And there are all kinds of them these days!! Now the book queue is different and I do like that one! Now — is there another one I like? Mmmmmm, can’t think of one! Hope you’re having a great day and that you’re not in a queue!!

    Sylvia

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  11. I went to the supermarket today to buy vegetables for my vegetable-loving dog Lindy, and I didn’t have to stand in a Queue at all. I mention this because it happens so rarely. A nice young woman was arranging some kind of merchandise and said, “I can help you at this till.” And she said it just to me, she wasn’t announcing “This till now open”!!
    I was Quite thrilled to be in a Queue of my own. LOL
    — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie’s Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  12. I LOVE your queue of books. I have a stash too but not arranged alphabetically. Mine are in a couple of paper boxes.

    I always choose the wrong line too. It’s a talent I wish I didn’t have. 🙂

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  16. Oh the phone thing is the one that winds me up the most, I can feel my blood pressure going up. Amazing queue of books to be read! Great entry for Q day.

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  19. You’ve hit on one of my pet peeves – when I phone for instance a doctor’s office. They answer, “Dr. X’s office. Can you hold?” Before you have a chance to reply, you hear “click” and then that horrible music they all dredge up from somewhere. I do love your queue of books though, they look so orderly and on their best behavior.

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  21. Pingback: Q is for Queen of Cotton | Shooting Parrots

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