When nothing else will do - Mornington Crescent anyone?

[NicolaMarlowsMerlin]

Feels like we could all do with a robust tournament round about now. May I start?

I know this is cheeky, but I’ll begin with...

...Osterley

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

Avant garde to the point of being surreal, one might suggest.

Tower Hill

[nosswith]

Nothing wrong with avant-garde, though whether or not Salvator Dali played the Spanish imposter game Las Ramblas is not recorded.

Via the DLR rule which was not available in the ill-fated 1968 tournament at Old Oak Common, a move to Wapping.

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

Perhaps a little underhand at this stage but applying the Otis Regulation then Goodge Steet

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

Goodness! I haven't seen the like since the lock-in after the quarter finals in Jakarta in '86, when the Colonel drank a bottle of absinthe and played Kings Cross on the diagonal. But I digress

Watford

[nosswith]

The countryside in what John Betjeman referred to as Metroland is a lovely place. I wager that he probably was a good player of the game of games as well, perhaps the Colonel or Maud can testify if indeed this was the case.

For the first time since the abandoned game in 2006 I move to Chorleywood.

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

Sir John Betjeman was indeed a very skilled player of the game of games (and was rumoured to be the author of the 1963 revision to Volume XXIII of the Consolidated Rules) although for obvious reasons he never attempted the double lateral to Slough.

Parsons Green

[DuckonaBike]

Fascinating about John Betjeman! If I may be permitted a concentric move so early in the morning

Northwood Hills

[nosswith]

As we are in Betjeman's favourite part of the Underground, let us continue to Northwood.

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

At the suggestion of Miss Joan Hunter-Dunne, herself no mean player of the game

Pinner

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

Mount Pleasant
Oh my word I think I may have just unwittingly crossed the Runicon there.

I'll get my coat...

[nosswith]

The use of the Post Office Railway rule there, that was very unexpected. Or is it the mothballed lines or heritage line rule, I am not so sure, and cannot contact the adjudicator of the 1968 tournament where the peace had to be kept for over three weeks after a shunt to Drayton Park was played.

Mention of coats leads me to Covent Garden in the hope that one of the local emporium is somehow finding a way to remain open.

[TwoLeftSocksWithHoles]

@nosswith

No, I fear it is the driverless aspect that is my major undoing...

A stupid, stupid schoolboy error. I can't believe I fell into that blatantly obvious trap.

[DuckonaBike]

Don’t worry TwoLeftSocks - as less experienced players we can only learn by observing!

As it’s a Friday night, I’m going to make use of the Pennington-Cholmondely Exemption and move to Earls Court.

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

Ooh, the pace is quickening as the weekend approaches. A swift parallel to

Clapham South

[OnionsAreToxic]

As it's the first Friday in November, I am utilising the Inverness Wager and skipping over to South Ruislip

[nosswith]

South Ruislip was one of those places that has yielded many player of the game of games over the years, though some chose to keep their location quiet. Indeed there was an estate agent who would have used this as an advertising point in putting houses up for sale, but then realise that it would reveal his location and his dastardly move in the 1971 tournament where the Inverness Wager was played of all things in October.

West Ruislip a short move to avoid rail replacement buses.

[DuckonaBike]

Good grief nosswith. That’s a story to make your hair stand on end.

Let’s calm things down with a lateral to Barbican

[boilingkettle]

So sorry for my late entry. I received a letter from the Duchess about the whereabouts of Maud that was most distressing and had to take to my bed for a few days. I am still only partially recovered so excuse me if this move has been disallowed since I last played, but as it’s a Saturday before 11am I believe I can make a risky move to Aldgate East??

[areallthenamesusedup]

Boilingkettle I wouldn’t say your move is risky, just a tad careless.....you see..,.. I can immediately counter with Gunnersbury....

[boilingkettle]

Bold move.
But this is not my first rodeo. I invoke the standard 1981 Convention reverse and move to Ravenscourt Park

[DuckonaBike]

We’ve already had Ravenscourt Park boilingkettle, but I think it’s just about allowable since it’s the up platform this time and it’s a leap year.

Mile End

[nosswith]

Ravenscourt Park has the joys of four tracks so under the 1933 convention which considered the Piccadilly line extensions was allowed to be a reversible move. The up and down platform rule was added I understand following the 1948 tournament which had to consider how the Ongar extension would be included, it being single track from Epping. There was a wish to avoid red faces, orange ones not yet having permeated Essex.

So venturing out into Essex I move to Debden.

[boilingkettle]

There have been so many repeat visits to stations in this game I thought we were playing by the Witheringston rules, do forgive me! I’m lucky we are in a leap year otherwise I’d be done for and couldn’t show my face at the Oxford meet.
Some of the less experienced players might think this is not the move to make at this juncture, but I hope those of you who remember the incident with the Ambassador to Sweden will enjoy the move to Leyton Midland Road

[ComeBackIntoTheGardenMaud]

Oh dear, boilingkettle. I do hope the Duchess isn’t on day release and reverting to her old ways. If she has repeated that old story about me, the tenor and the pineapple I can assure you it is a calumny and I have the superinjunction to prove it. So

Walthamstow

[boilingkettle]

Oh dearest Maud - no I’m afraid the news is out about your cousin and the dowager in Portofino. So brave of you to try and smooth things over at the consulate with all these travel restrictions but diplomacy just isn’t what it was when we were girls...
C’est la vie!
How about a quick shuffle step with a flip to the ‘other’ platform at Harrow on the Hill - that’s within the rules given there’s an r in both the day and the month, isn’t it?