15th September 2022, London
Buckingham Palace & Green Park
Before I made up my mind to join the queue,
I visit Buckingham Palace. The Mall was lined the entire route with the Union Flag, which offered a speculator sight!
As there wasn't much of a queue so was able to stand outside the front of the Palace and see the guards. I then followed the one-way system round to Green Park. This was the location of all the floral tributes. The site was breath-taking and reading the messages was emotional.
The Queue to Pay Respect-12.45 till 8.45pm
After seeing the queue was moving constantly near Westminster, I decided to find the end. This meant going past Tower Bridge and into Bermondsey. I have to say it was amazingly organised with plenty of marshals, security, toilets and refreshments! I got given a wristband once inside the zig-zag queue near Tower Bridge, which enabled me to exit the queue if needed and enter in the same position.
While queuing for the wristband i was able to witness Tower Bridge opening, which caused quite a stir amongst people who had never seen it before!
Normally I stand by myself in queues, like West End Live, but I ended up talking to several people the entire route. Was interesting finding out why people are going to see the Queen and how far they have travelled.
Until Blackfriars it was a steady queue, but it then became more stop-start with the stop periods becoming longer once reached The South Bank and The Eye.
The BFI even had a screen outside showing films and documentary's of the Queen.
The journey to Victoria Tower Gardens was almost 6 hours. The longest stretch of queuing was in Victoria Tower Gardens. This involved 2 zig-zag queues which totalled 3 hours. Once reached the final zig-zag the atmosphere changed and became more quiet as we knew we was approaching the end of the queue.
The security was extremely tight, no food, liquids etc. Had to walk through airport-style scanner and bag through a x-ray machine
The entire 9 hour wait was worth it, walking down the stairs of Westminster Hall and seeing the coffin and the guards. The entire hall was silent and cold.I paid my respect to Her Majesty The Queen. I made the mistake of looking back which made it even more emotional
The entire day will be something that i will remember for the rest of my life!
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