I have to admit it, I am a British person to the core of my being. Living away from the UK for over a year has finally taught me this. There are a lot of British cultural traits/ modes of behaviour that I can do without, queuing is not one of them. I have always been a stickler for queue etiquette- waiting my turn even when the Kids were desperate for the loo and the sensible thing would have been to push in. If someone pushed in front in a queue I would tut tut, mutter, or sometimes when I was feeling brave actually say something. This is not something that I can do in Hungary. For a start there is not a letter Q in Hungarian. Some foreign words seem to have sneaked in here like "quick" but when they appear they are spelled with a "kv".
I was waiting for a bus this morning. I was about the 3rd person there but somehow by the time the bus arrived I was the last of about 20 to get on. This happens to me all of the time. I expect the etiquette to be as in the UK. I have not yet figured out how a Hungarian queue works. There seems to be a rugby scrum type of mentality. It is every person for him or herself. This makes life very confusing- in shops, on public transport, in hospitals. Some places are addressing the situation. Our local post office now has a ticket system and it works really well- the queues have disappeared. It all seems to run so much smoother. Of course this approach would not really work in a bus queue.
I was brought up on images of those in the former Communist Bloc queuing. I assumed that these queues were orderly and on a first come first served basis- unless etiquette deemed that someone less fortunate than you was offered your place. Unless something has changed radically as to manners in the last 20 years I think I may have been mistaken.
Jo blogs at 3 years in Hungary, Scotland to Siófok, which is about her move with her family from Scotland, UK to Siófok in Hungary. Including details on Hungarian food, places, sights, life in Hungary as she sees it. Personal observations on adjusting to Hungarian life including nursery provison and the experiences of her children in moving to Hungary and life as an outsider.
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