If it's October it must be Mornington Crescent

[MarkWithaC]

@LlynTegid

@TragicMuse
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@Youngersis1
@ComeIntoTheGardenMaud
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Although of course MC is a game for all seasons, I do have especially fond memories of an October championships in Wales and extracurricular… fun amid the greenery of a National Trust garden.

If I've missed anyone I do apologise; do round up any players you happen to see or hear of.

And I'll start with a lovely little move that the Reverend taught me.
Finsbury Park

South of the river again.

Mulling my options I'm inclined towards Monument

Hmm. A bit of contemplating.i believe Goldhawk road is the best available move in the circumstances

So many returns to previous stations in this game. I'm almost tempted to call in an official umpire for a rules review. However that will bring about intense scrutiny for this game. Which reminded me of the Oslo Accord of 2009 where it was decreed that a player might invoke the ancient bylaw of laissez faire in these exact circumstances as long as no other player was in Nidd.

Which is a short summary of the many reasons why Colliers Wood is actually allowed.

@Boredmum24 that was exactly what I was thinking! Great minds...eh?!

On game nomenclature, my edition of the '24 rules phrase it as 'nip' rather than 'nidd' and I understand both are used although nip is preferred in the other place.

Oh! Kensal Rise! Of course. I nearly missed that.

I was shocked to discover someone at work did not know what being in Nidd meant. Someone who had once worked not far from the place that gives its name to the game of games.

Kenton.

I'm in two minds about returning to previous stations. In most matters relating to the game of games, I consider myself a purist, and so I ought to condemn it because the Consolidated Rules (2023 update) are uncompromisingly against it. And yet, the Ottawa playoffs wouldn't have been the triumph they were, if the Countess hadn't played that lateral double swing back to Barking. So now I'm on the fence.

Bond Street

@GertrudeJekyllAndHyde I am currently physically extremely close to Bond St (very hush-hush, can't say any more in case I jeopardise neutrality in next year's playoffs), which means I can double back to Leicester Square

Well that's upset the apple cart somewhat, yet you seem confident you'll actually make next year's playoffs, @GertrudeJekyllAndHyde!

Loughton

I'd heard a rumour, Seaside1234, that you were going to be in the vicinity of Bond Street, but my informant, the Archdeacon, is notoriously unreliable once she's been on the brandy snaps so I didn't give it much credence. And no, MyrtleStrumpet, I'm taking nothing for granted. I wasn't playing at Ottawa - merely there to record highlights for the MC podcast - and fear a diary clash may stop me attending next year.

Arnos Grove

Fair, Gertrude.

I have a weekend trip to points north (I shan't say any more, but yes, it absolutely IS a coincidence that certain members of the team from the winery are also absent this weekend), so this is my last sally until Monday at least. Better make it count.

Gallions Reach (using a Baffle).

A baffle! How splendid!

With a quick riffle through my trusty Stovold's I think it has to be Great Portland Street.

Mention of that station always puts me in mind of the late, great Kenneth Williams, Tragic. What a player of the game of games.

Feeling inspired to do a pasa doble to Warwick Avenue

Darling Kenneth. I feel he would want us to move to

Russell Square

Sublime!

Which means there's an elegant move to Latimer Road.

I am playing Tottenham Court Road WHILE PHYSICALLY STANDING IN TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD STATION. A move only second to MC itself. If you never hear from me again, that space/time vortex has opened up and taken me.

How those of you that frequent London and play the game of games are still alive, I don't know.

A difficult choice now. If Seaside has been consumed by the vortex we would most likely need to proceed with alacrity to Heathrow Terminal 5 in the hope of avoiding a catastrophe similar to the Green Park Incident of 1953. However, I shall be optimistic and play Euston Square.

I have a ... trying morning ahead with the dowager Duchess. I could do with a vortex. Sloane Square

Poor you, YellowPolkaDotBikini1980. The dowager Duchess has been famously grumpy since the butler ran away with the housemaid and the under-gardener. If she starts one of her tirades about the unreliability of servants, could you try distracting her with a few rounds of the game of games?

Ruislip Gardens

Oh dear @YellowPolkaDotBikini1980 shall I send The Archbish round to mollify her? It's no trouble. I have bottle of the new batch of Steve's Marvellous Sticky Jollop which I'd be happy to share...

Angel.

I think the ArchBish is the least you can send. I'm at Earl's Court so I'll send him round too.

It's ok all, no vortex today. Perhaps that news will cheer up the DD?

Hatton Cross.

Mention of a vortex reminds me of dear, dear Noël Coward, who was a devotee of the game of games. They say that "I've been to a marvellous party" was inspired by an evening in Antibes, playing MC with the crème de la crème of European society.

West Harrow

It is said that Oscar Wilde made his famous quote about us all being in the gutter following an epic MC marathon. It was his unexpected win that evening that inspired the rest of the sentence, "but some of us are looking at the stars".

Which obviously means we are at Charing Cross.

Indeed! Mad About The Boy was originally titled 'Mad About The Boy Winning MC With A Crossed Lateral When I Was In Nip' but it got cut by the censors for using nip because it was too close to the naming of parts. Sensitive lot, the censors.

South Ealing