Hugs, Tears & Replacement Bus Services by Nod at The Fox is a 16-minute fully audio production complete with the dialogue fully subtitled to allow those who are hearing impaired to enjoy the performance as well. There are additional recorded soundscapes and music to further enhance the story, although there would be nothing lost in the storyline if these were to be removed.
The dreaded bus replacement service can be every traveller’s worse fear
The dreaded bus replacement service can be every traveller’s worst fear, especially on long journeys. The story takes you down the tunnel of despair in a traveller’s mind as a typical half hour journey has now been replaced with a much longer journey sitting on a bus.
As he “accepts his fate” and settles into his seat he notices every other person on the bus has an instrument, like him. Yet this journey he needs a break from playing his ukulele and wants to watch the scenery as he goes home. The story winds along through his thoughts as he watches “the landscape pass by and knowing that he must not fall asleep as there won’t be announcements given out in the same way as on the train.
However, waking himself up after a “micro nap “with a bump he reflects on the vivid dreams he experienced of seeing family and friends in the passing fields that feel like the hazy reality where you between sleeping and awake and left uncertain about if you actually saw it or not. He decides to join in with the musicians as he feels suitably refreshed and wants to join the real world again and live back in the moment.
Writer Eden Harbud narrates the audience through the entire recording with his clear voice and easy rhythm. His naturally calming tone is an absolute pleasure to listen to. As he smoothly combines the frustration of the unplanned bus journey with the frustrations of the twists and turns in the journey of life, he concludes that it is never too late to change our direction and reclaim the journey we want to take.
