Queuing for Tickets for Beer

I’ve got my ticket for Farnham Beer Exhibition 2010 (along with 5 others) which takes place (as usual) at Farnham Maltings in Farnham, Surrey, UK. The tickets cost £7 each...

I’ve got my ticket for Farnham Beer Exhibition 2010 (along with 5 others) which takes place (as usual) at Farnham Maltings in Farnham, Surrey, UK. The tickets cost £7 each and there’s a tradition of queuing up to get them when they go on sale at 7AM at the Maltings itself. Yes, that’s 7AM on a Sunday morning. What’s even more bizarre is that in order to get within the first 50 people you need to be there before 5AM!

This was my first time queuing for tickets, and only my second Beerex visit. Last year one of “The Alans” from The Open Learning Centre kindly queued up to get me a ticket and invited me along. This year I am returning the favour. So my alarm went off at 4AM this morning and I duly drove over to Farnham to join the queue. by 4:45 it was about 35 people in length, with a friend of mine at about 10th position. I stopped to chat, but of course queue etiquette means I had to join the back of the queue so couldn’t chat with him for long.

Being British we’re a reserved lot who generally don’t talk to others in queues, on public transport or in a disaster. There’s the general subject matter to start off with including the weather (a British staple), how long until the door opens (this is well known, but we all like to talk about time when we’re in a queue) and appropriate attire (mostly me grumping because I didn’t have a hat).

But the Beerex queue conversation and atmosphere is somewhat different from other queues I’ve been in. People are very friendly, some offering coffee, chocolate and even Guinness (at 5AM!) to other queuers, which takes away the pain of being cold and tired with nowhere to sit for 2+ hours. One guy even unpacked a barbeque from the back of his car, lit up and had a fresh breakfast of various cooked meats – I can’t be more descriptive than that, it was very dark!

Overall it was a cold experience but with a great payoff in the form of beer and a glass for each attendee. I’d probably be happy to do it again, when my turn comes around of course

Now there’s only a month to go and I can look forward to an evening of friends, dodgy music, real ale, cider and perry from my own commemorative half-pint glass as I look around at people I met in a darkened queue and think to myself “I know you from somewhere”.