Pinch punch - let's net get too wobbly - Mornington Crescent...

[Arlanymor]

Well good evening... I'll start without too much pomp and circumstance (because they cancelled the b*stard elephant). No I am fine, I AM FINE.

And find myself on the platform at Blackfriars... not sure if I am heading east or west...

Hello all. An almost unforgivably long absence from me; I hasten to explain that I was invited at short notice to help out at the regulations committee July social.
I've said it before, but I must say again that this game certainly attracts people of all stripes. I had never seen a pack of paper cups, a box of Jaffa cakes and a balloon-blowing-up device put to quite that use before.

Any road up.

Duck, yes, I suspect so. Morecambe, 2018? I was privileged to be in the company of the retired council secretary and the assistant from the fairground. I seem to remember you were part of a no less impressive and eclectic group.

Swiss Cottage (invoking Langham)

How super, LittleBitofBread! You’ve got us out of that Wilkins Spiral with several moves in hand.

Ickenham

PS I’d been wondering where my balloon pump had gone. Could I please have it back?

Ah the Uxbridge branch of the Metropolitan line. The communities that gave us stations with gardens, Scouting for Girls, and whose Edwardian glamour seems to have faded. Perhaps because the game of games was only invented after the said line was open.

Ruislip.

Battersea Power Station.

Mums the word…

Maud, I'm so sorry to disappoint, but I didn't have and don't have charge of the cherished item. You would need to ask the assistant administrator (Ditchling branch), although thinking about it he hasn't been seen since the lady dog trainer returned from her holidays.

I'm taking a bit of a risk here, but there's a tricky Stubmann's Corner that means I can't make the move I usually would in these circumstances.
With fingers firmly crossed, I'm saying Liverpool Street

I avoid administrators of the game of games, and to be fair, they avoid me. Something to do with the 1981 tournament hosted at Ongar station.

Becontree to continue eastwards.

In the immortal words of the song, go west!

Kensington High Street

Llyn, they can be quite strange as a breed. I do feel that access to the Excel budget and signing-off powers on strategies up to an unwarrantedly high certain level can go to people's heads.

Mention of Ongar reminded me of that quite extraordinary exhibition match when someone, I think it was the vicar's old companion, showed us all his way with a Right-Angled Dutch. In light of that, I think I can say Stratford

I’ve been on a jaunt! Back to the fray…

Farringdon

A jaunt? How thrilling! Was it perhaps to

Piccadilly Curcus?

Or even Piccadilly Circus?

Well caught, Maud!

I wouldn't usually bring in the Delft Exception when we've been playing to starboard, but I do believe that earlier Becontree manoeuvre cancels out the risk.
Thus: Latimer Road

I’m upping the ante…

Cannon Street

The rail replacement bus rule needs to be played to get me to Lewisham and then on to Island Gardens DLR.

I thought about that move, Muse, but ultimately wouldn't have been brave enough. I'm always worried about the possibility of Stitz, especially when it's played in conjunction with the Central line. I must say you've handled it extremely well.
I learned this one from a dear friend when I was involved in am dram, a long-standing Falstaff specialist understudy. It's unconventional, but I hope you agree effective:
Hainault

Oh brava @LittleBitofBread equally courageous I think!

Stitz can be avoided with a widdershins volta… 😉

Hainault, hmm? OH! I have it!

Great Portland Street! (On the Metropolitan line, obvs).

May i butt in with a gentle

Borough

I am not one to have ever taken part in am dram, which is probably for the best, even though had I done so I would have met a number of good players of the game of games. The local group must know this as they schedule performances when I am on holiday almost all of the time.

Moving south to Tooting Bec.

Am dram definitely isn't for the faint-hearted. Combine it with the game of games and things can get very volatile.
Muse, I have to say I've avoided playing widdershins moves ever since the deputy bookkeeper and I had a little bit of a contretemps at the autumn run-offs in Bideford that time.

I'll continue to avoid them and take us to White City with a double-fronted Knett.

White City has caught out inexperienced players of the game of games as the platform for westbound trains is the one you'd expect for eastbound ones.

A move without making that mistake to North Acton.

Waterloo

I hardly need to explain why

I'd guess because it's fresh in your mind after In Our Time yesterday. 😁

However in the context of MC Waterloo is easily countered with a swift play of:

Green Park

I had a feeling somebody would bring in Green Park. It's a pity in that it means I can no longer play my last Milford token, but it does allow me to make an inverted Krieff to
Kilburn Park

I’ve given this an extraordinary amount of thought - unusual for me, I know!!

Hyde Park Corner

Thinking time should never be frowned upon when playing the game of games. None of this nonsense such as speed chess or the abomination taking place on various hallowed cricket grounds called the Hundred.

Putney Bridge.