Once more unto the breach, dear friends: more Mornington Crescent

[MyNightWithMaud]

Now we have had a little pause, in which to mull over the highs and lows of the last game and possibly rethink our strategies, might it be nice to start again?

I've been reflecting on what the vice-consul said in Ouagadougou in '67. She was quite right, after all, and so I shall disregard the naysayers and offer you a Musgrave's Collateral to

Oxford Circus

[ForalltheSaints]

A change from the usual start of Baker Street though it is only within throwing distance of that strange game involving two teams from that country across the Atlantic. A country where the lack of MC has created all sorts of issues over the years.

What took place in the capital of Burkina Faso in 1967 with the vice consul I thought was only going to be revealed in the memoirs due out on the 50th anniversary next year and so I shall keep stumm. I think a diagonal is called for which can only mean a move to Piccadilly Circus

[SlinkyVagabond]

Ah hail fellows well met!
Well that's definitely on my Christmas list next year (if it gets by the libel lawyers)
Bold moves for so early in the game. I think I in the other hand will play safe and a simple transverse to Golders Green

[MyNightWithMaud]

How elegant, Slinky! Perhaps an instance of nominative determinism? I am indeed feeling emboldened and so I shall set aside all decorum and play a lateral shunt to

Theydon Bois

[Andrewofgg]

Let's make it more interesting by agreeing that Scuddings are vertical even on the Trans-Pennine route which has not been done since Marseille in '47.

True to which I offer you . . . roll of drums and eye of newt . . . Calais Maritime!

[SlinkyVagabond]

Well I ran that past the colonel... i never knew his vast vocabulary encompassed that many Latin American profanities. (He is currently relaxing hiding in Havana). You will all have heard about his problem in Moscow. Apparently mr Putin is not as accepting of pater's err, eccentricities as past premiers, so his beloved Bolshoi is out of bounds. However Cuba has a thriving ballet corps, with the added bonus of big cigars and lots of rum, so there he is until the world championships. Mater is finding it a touch warm for tweed though.
But hey lets go wild! From Calais a mere skip to exotic Rotherham.

[OverAndAbove]

May I join you gentle-fellows? I'm a trad sort of player and like to keep it streamlined so I'll go in with High Street Ken

I think you know what I'm saying with this. Russington et al would be proud

[LineyReborn]

I'm playing the Philby Manoeuvre to Russell Square.

[MyNightWithMaud]

Oh, I say. It's months since we went to Russell Square. The only possible riposte is a Trumpington to

Heathrow Terminal 4

[SlinkyVagabond]

Nothing beats a good Trumpington Maud. Except perhaps a Fewell's riposte to Cockfosters.

[Andrewofgg]

Look, Slinky, once and for all, no I won't cock Fosters. Why should I?

The Ambassador has got her passport back and on her behalf I play Ely - she promises me on her honour as a Wolf Cub that the business of the ticket inspector, the raven, and the pot of glycerine will not recur and I think we can trust her this time.

[ForalltheSaints]

This is a game already fraught with difficulties. Most of the Piccadilly line already traversed, half of the Northern line (Bank Branch not Charing Cross as you know where that leads us to!), and now out to the Fens.

I feel I have no choice but to invoke the pre-Beeching rule and loiter further in the low probably foggy countryside. There have been allegations about activities in the Fens that are the same as parts of the 'redneck' parts of the US, without any support for an OAP with blonde hair.

So via March and Wisbech I go, to the tramway to Outwell

[Andrewofgg]

One of these days the Grand Council of MC will bite the bullet and decide that outside London only pre-Beeching stations are playable (subject of course to Rule 132(xiii)(a) on Thursdays).

Until then - and with a nod of respectful of admiration to you Saints - I'm going to play East Bridgford

[dementedma]

Goodness me, such reckless play so early in the game! Back to London and a sedate Morden, while we catch our breath!

[MyNightWithMaud]

Oh, thank you, dementedma, for bringing a little decorum into this game. Fenland in October is a risky play indeed.

Some of you will remember this play from Chipping Sodbury in '87: a Shuttleworth's Slip to

Pimlico

[Andrewofgg]

Decorum, as Stephen Murray once said in The Navy Lark, is what you do to apples before you eat 'em.

if we are going to go respectable it has to be Cheltenham which is where we are now headed.

Oh, and my carriage is full of late arrivals for the Snobs' Ball. I am honoured to share it with Mr and Mrs Nasmuck and their punctuational daughter Comma.

[ForalltheSaints]

I think that Cheltenham on a Tuesday in October is a bit chilly and so we must head for warmer spa waters and go the shortish journey to Bath

[dementedma]

Amusing, Andrew, très amusing but what can one expect if travelling to Cheltenham? From Bath I play a crisp crossfrogget to Bristol, a play which comes into its own at this time of year!

[MyNightWithMaud]

That would be Temple Meads, I assume, as Parkway would plunge you instantly into nidd.

I'm going headlong for

Turnham Green

I too have some travelling companions in their way to the Snobs Ball, Mr and Mrs Couthe and their surly boy Unsworth, known to his delinquent chums as Un.

[Andrewofgg]

Prkwy stations, which acknowledge the existence of the horseless carriage, are not known to MC in its higher manifestations.

Pontefract - and I double dare anyone to play a station with fewer than eight letters next!

[IrenetheQuaint]

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwll-llantysiliogogogoch

Since you asked.

[Andrewofgg]

Irene You know that there is a special place on the platform there for MC adepts?

Abertillery - and the coffee place is in Boilings on Tuesdays!

[MyNightWithMaud]

Just as there is on platform 9 3/4 at Kings Cross, although only in alternate Wednesdays in Lent.

I was listening to Beethoven just now, which helped me realise that the only possible next move is

Dagenham Heathway

[GiraffesAndButterflies]

May I draw everyone's attention to the fact that the moon is waxing? I therefore play Holborn station and I believe that only leaves one possible option as the next move.

[Andrewofgg]

Indeed - we are under what in that inferior game known as chess is call Zugzwang and I play Dewsbury.

[SlinkyVagabond]

Waxing? Oh there is only one thing then, following the Boring and Northgate interdict (parts 5 to 18, paras b, h but never m, subsection IIX, naturally) one has to play an Uffington's follow through to Knightsbridge. We may have a swift conclusion to this game.