The sport of kings: Mornington Crescent

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Good morning, all. What better way to begin the long weekend than a new game of the ineffable Mornington Crescent? All are welcome - veterans and newbies alike.

To set the tone, I will start with one of my favourite moves - a double shunt to

Kew Gardens

I like the recent moves. Let's try East Putney.

Hmm. The situation is now somewhat ambiguous (are laterals single- or double-switched?) but I’ll risk a Moody to

Kew Gardens

@ComeIntoTheGardenMaud @LlynTegid exceptionally bold and interesting moves, I feel I need to inject some stability I am slipping in a Wade shuffle ending up at Faringdon

Deceptively chancy @HazelBite and devilish hard to get out of…

Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3

I believe that opens up a crumhorn on the distaff. If we’re accepting Stovold’s 1948, 7th reprint…

Ah, Stovold. Other interpretations may wax and wane, but Stovold is the bedrock of the modern game and I ignore the bishop’s and gamekeeper’s incessant grumblings against it. On the downward:

Surrey Quays

I think Stovold is overrated and there are others who should be considered as important in the modern game, such as the Major, for all his seeming to be stuck in the steam age.

Canning Town.

I wonder if the Slightly Dodgy Actress will ever complete her revision of Stovold? (She's been doing so much resting these days that she could surely find the time to write some new appendices.)
Abbey Road. (No, not the Scouse Shift.)

Hmm. The last time I saw the Slightly Dodgy Actress, she was getting into the lift at Claridges with the Major, a crate of Chateau Lafite Rothschild, and a leather-bound notebook. She claimed they were going to spend the weekend in intensive revision of Stovold but, as you say, several years later there’s still nothing to show for it.

Latimer Road

She was only in the service lift because it was nearest. It’s hardly her fault that the bell-boy had to adjust his uniform as a most inopportune moment, which was captured forever…bloody paps, eh?!

Oval.

There was a story about the provenance of that crate of Chateau Lafite that would curl your teeth. Of course all involved would swear on various graves that they simply clubbed together for it, so all one can do really is nod along (I do not argue with resting actresses, not after that time at the 2023 social in Bathgate).

Westferry, anyway.

Bathgate was . . . rough. And the uninterrupted drizzle didn't help.
Gently, to Shadwell.

Argh! Mention of Bathgate has brought back memories I’ve long tried to suppress.

Surrey Quays

I'm sat today in a lovely park, in the warmth and eating what's turning out to be a fabulous samosa. Work has been good so far this week, I'm staying away near our head office. I'm going for a swim at a half decent hotel that work has put me in, and then out for a meal at that nice greek metze place I've used before. Even better, being in a hotel, someone else is prepping those meals and washing up. Life is good today.

It's got to be the Good Life in Surbiton.

Sorry, Maud and Vaguely. It was rough for many of us, I agree.
Alperton, using the Accelerant Variable.

Thank you for your consideration, LittleBitofBread. Sometimes, one can be, like outdooryone, enjoying a pleasant, peaceable day and then suddenly traumatic old memories are stirred up. But I shall distract myself with a saunter (Pilkington’s Method) to

Regent's Park

You must have clairvoyant powers @ComeIntoTheGardenMaud, I was just thinking of that delightful patch of green in the great metropolis.

Hampstead. Good for the airy environs of the Heath. And a cake from Louis’.

Which takes us very nicely to Holland Park

You’re not the first person to suggest that, TragicMuse; some say I am the Madame Arcati of the game of games. Let us continue our sylvan progress to

Tufnell Park

O Maud! Blithely, spiritedly, verdantly, to Chiswick Park.

I lived in Tufnell Park in the 80s…

Hyde Park Corner…

or renroc krap edyh, as my dear mater likes to call it!

Westwards seems the best move to make, so off to Ealing Common.

Ah. Tonight I am feeling nostalgic for

Pimlico

Pimlico? when I get nostalgic I have to go to Turnpike Lane

Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be, eh?

Barbican

For terribly personal reasons my nostalgia will do an inverse repassage towards
Highbury & Islington.