People sprint across the concourse to catch buses that are leaving as they bolt from approaching ones. They don’t always, but occasionally they do. There is a little calm after every surge.
At the Bolton Interchange, hundreds of lives come together every night. The people who work night shifts and commute, the people who go out on the town, and the people who are slightly lost.
Everyone has a unique narrative to tell; some enjoy engaging in conversation, while the majority engross themselves in their music on headphones.
I rode the night buses for a week. What politicians are witnessing on their campaign buses is not what the general public is seeing as the election draws near. Their viewpoints are vastly dissimilar.
There’s a dark humor about the future, an unmistakable dejection at the status of the nation, and no interest in what the political process could do about it. There aren’t many glimmer of hope.
From the bus-spotter who declares that the nation needs “a good clean” to the older bluegrass guitarist Pete who is on his way to an open-mic night, there are those who long for a new Britain.
How does he view modern-day Britain? “I’m heading to Lake Windermere with fifty of my friends to go s*** in the water. They don’t seem to be stopping the water companies, so we’ll see if they take any action to stop us.”
