Bus Breakdown!

4:30am on the morning of October 13th. The bus was on its way from Stoke-on-Trent to Glasgow. It should have been a fairly easy and straightforward journey. Sure, it was going to take quite a few hours, but it was a rest day (no show tonight) so it really shouldn’t have been a big deal. After stopping at a petrol station and filling up, we were making our way down the M6 when disaster struck.

The smell of something burning filled the bus and our driver was forced to pull over on the not-so-safe hard shoulder of the M6. It was surprising how many vehicles were zipping past us at such an hour, and a bit frightening as the whole bus shook as each vehicle passed.

Some of us had been awake, hanging in the lounge, as we do to wind down from a show, and some of us were cozy in our bunks trying to catch some much-needed sleep. It was a crazy situation for all of us though as there was concern over whether we would be able to continue with our bus or have to wait for a replacement. The time ticked by and we were nervous that someone might crash into us on the hard shoulder.

James got out his iPad and started surfing the ‘net. He Tweeted the sitation to let his fans know just what was going on.

James passing the time on his iPad as he awaits rescue

As some of us sat in the downstairs lounge chatting about the current situation, we tried to guess what might have gone wrong with the bus and how this might affect us all and the tour. We agreed that if it had to happen, it couldn’t have happened at a better time for us. As it was a rest day we had plenty of time to sort the situation. While we talked, Timmy grabbed James’ guitar and started playing to help pass the time as we sat in darkness.

Timmy playing a little guitar to pass the time while awaiting rescue.

Not sure of when rescue was going to arrive, everyone else on the bus went back to bed. The only people awake, besides the bus driver, were James, Timmy, Ricky and Team Future Boy rep, Teresa. With only the glow of phones (and James’ iPad) we listened to Timmy play while Ricky tweeted and sent texts describing the situation to friends and family to let them know what was up.

Ricky updating everyone via Twitter and Text

After nearly 5 hours on the hard shoulder of the M6, our new bus finally arrived. We had to transfer our bedding from the old bus to the new one as they had sent it over in a rush from Liverpool and hadn’t had a chance to put linens on it! We then rode down the M6 in the new bus the 6 miles to the nearest services. The bus company transferred our belongings for us while some of us grabbed breakfast and others slept. Our old bus looked so sad hooked up to the tow truck. I just had to snap a pic as a way of saying goodbye!

The old Future Boy bus waiting to be towed with the new bus behind it.

After everything was transferred over, it was time to make our way to Glasgow. We laughed as we saw some of the tweets to @JBFutureboy from some of the @citystereo boys about the bus.

Nick_CityStereo    

um…we’ve just seen your bus being towed the opposite way from scotland?

and

benstereo  

Have you got yourself a new bus then mate? Swear I just saw your orange one shooting back southwards?

Ha ha! We should be catching up with the City Stereo guys later when we finally get to Glasgow. At least we have an interesting story to tell now!