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...

No, but there is always a certain thrill when the retired canon proposes a sudden-death round.
It did go a little bit wrong that time in Teignmouth though. I don't think relations in the village hall committee recovered for quite a while.

Walthamstow Central (with a Knutsford Corner)

I met a retired canon a couple of weeks ago, and would have met a serving one had parish matters not detained him.

Village hall committees can be a breed apart, only topped by that of the local WI if led by the local landed matriarch.

Blackhorse Road

That is very true of village hall committees. It was actually the AGM of one in Dorset (Affpuddle I seem to remember?) where the poor old retired admiral had his contretemps with the dog groomer about the Nickelsen Manoeuvre that ultimately led to his withdrawing from that year's MC all-stars tournament, from which he never recovered – I believe he has still not played since. A great loss to the MC community in my humble view.

Any road up.
Euston

You do see why.

Ladies, gentlemen, and those in between. I can only apologise most profusely for my extended absence. Things have been a little hectic at Maud Towers, what with the international situation and the ambassador ringing at all hours of the day and night.

Humbly, I proffer an extended Burlington to

Dollis Hill

Welcome back, Maud!
Not the ambassador of the...events surrounding Eilat's Supreme Tournament of last year? That's a sticky wicket if so.

I admire that move. Reminiscent of the glory days of the under-butler.
I can't really follow it, so I shall simply play my last Lette-Fontaine to take us to Acton Town.

Gosh, breathless with excitement at this thrilling turn of events.

I must put aside all thoughts and recollections of the ambassador…oh but he was just an equerry and I was a young slip of a thing, then. His epaulettes were things of beauty. And the lights twinkled so brightly in the Dnipro. We were inseparable…

Victoria

I have only been invited to an embassy once. Never invited back. I never found out why, though doubt any of those I met were players of the game of games.

Temple

I shouldn't take it personally, Llyn. Embassy types can be strange and rather highly strung, speaking from my experience anyway. I'm very careful what I joke about around them these days after the incident with my comment about chocolate pyramids.

A Bleak's Reach to Baker Street.

Would it be inappropriate to say that with this dazzling play you are spoiling us?

Northwick Park

Nicely done @DuckonaBike!

My Stovold’s (annotated) (1937 edition) (3rd pressing) (hardback) (purple cloth binding) says Friday before the bank holiday forces us to British Museum.

That would appear to put closed stations in play.

Ah yes. Epaulettes, chocolate pyramids, the moonlight glinting on the river. It all brings back such happy memories of the regional heats in Stoke on Trent, where the dashing young attaché made such an impact with a daring lateral to

Covent Garden

Duck, no, those sorts of allusions are always welcome, chez LittleBit at least.

I've never quite grasped the closed station rule. The tree surgeon did try to teach me once, at a weekend tournament in Lyme Regis, but unfortunately we got... distracted before we could get onto the finer points. Those finer points anyway.

Marble Arch would appear to be my only option, seeing as Covent Garden blocks the possibility of an oblique shunt.

My apologies, LittleBitofBread. I thought I was preparing your way for a Steinway (if you so chose, of course - I would never presume) but was forgetting that it’s a Friday before a bank holiday. I am a little out of practice.

Great Portland Street

Not at all, Maud; I enjoyed the opportunity to refresh my knowledge of the 1973 rules regarding proportionate angles vis a vis the Central line.

A few more options now! I'm going to throw caution to the wind and say Leyton. And don't spare the horses!

Very daring, LittleBit. Though I was in fact present at the aforementioned tournament in Lyme, and daring is one of the things we have come to expect from you, if you don’t mind my saying.

Walthamstow Central

Believe me, Duck, I've heard worse. The old co-chair of the Pinner branch in particular was quite persuasive, and I never could say no to a gin and it, and those two things in conjunction did lead to some… fun occasions. Good times.

Anyway, I admire your forethought here. You've clearly taken into account the Five-Step Exception, which a lot of people forget or overlook when playing a quadrangle like that.

I can only say Bank

Oh goodness! I can’t contain my excitement!

Swiss Cottage

I know it might seem a little outrè but I’m feeling daring!

Cin cin!

I know it’s rather cheeky, but I’ve been waiting since the 2015 summer school (you know, the one in Torquay which got a little, shall we say, out of hand once the charabanc from the naval college arrived) to play an obverse Pilkington and here it is.

Mornington Crescent!

Well played everyone!

Brava Maud! That was utterly enchanting!

Shall you do the honours and open the next game?

New thread perhaps?

You’re too kind, TragicMuse.

I shall start a new thread, as that often seems to encourage the newbies (and returning devotees of the game of games modestly pretending to be newbies) to join us. It’ll be in chat.