The phrase 'pop to the shops' does not exist in Argentina. This is not for lack of vocabulary, but simply due to the impossibility of such an event ever occurring.
I have attempted this simple act, strolling around the corner to pick up a bag of milk (another story, in itself), and somehow failed. I successfully made it to the supermarket, the dairy fridge, the milk, only to be faced with a staggeringly long queue.
Now I can appreciate a good queue as well as the next English person, but it must be said that the population of Argentina has taken the polite custom to an unparalleled extreme. Queues are formed at every opportunity; long before a bus arrives at a stop, running outside shops and banks, some include dozens of people and appear to lead nowhere. I have contemplated this phenomenon whilst waiting for everything and anything, and have reached just one conclusion in this recession-driven world.
Argentina is of course no stranger to financial struggles; within the last decade its citizens have borne the brunt of a collapsed economy, leaving a debt of around US$150 billion (and a very informative ‘Museo de la Deuda Externa’ to boot).Whilst the world was lavishly spending, Argentina was in the mindset of necessity; the supermarket may only be half staffed, but a longer queue is the least of one’s worries after scraping together pesos for bread.The nation’s patience was tested, and passed with flying colours – so much so that whilst the economy recovered, the queues remained.
Meanwhile, on a small island thousands of miles away, people indulged in express checkouts whilst their economy collapsed around them.
Perhaps on returning to the UK I will once again be greeted by the queues of a nation in recovery, where jobs cuts and rising prices have quietened the huffs and puffs which now characterises a Briton in waiting.And taught by the best, I will wait with the patience of an Argentine.
