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

Mortified. Gunnersbury.

Don’t worry, Vaguelyclassical. I can see your intentions. With Baedeker at the ready:

Heathrow Terminal 5

Ah!
I can play a Sharpened Fitzgerald to Pinner.
Always wanted to do that.

Time for a move to Amersham and think of the joys of Metroland.

Nicely done, LlynTegid! And now onward with a double octave to

Finchley Central

Ah, the discreet charms of Finchley Central. The dangerously discreet charms (as I'm sure the Landgravine could testify).
I will venture a reverse dummy to Clapham Common.

I always think of Finchley as the home of the Pevensey family. Such nice children. As we find ourselves south of the river, I will take a landward shuffle to

Balham.

Balham? "Gateway to the South" always comes to mind!
I feel the urge to go North and thus a Churchill express move is required to Manor House

Precisely why I enjoy Balham so much! Let us again celebrate our siblings with an elongated third to

Seven Sisters

I have never really enjoyed Balham, though the people I have known who resided there seemed a more sociable group than say Clapham. I can imagine some residents of Balham being quite adept at the game of games.

Blackhorse Road.

Interesting you say that @ComeIntoTheGardenMaud as I picture Diggory’s house as one of the tall thin four-floors kind in Hampstead.

But then, that’s my birthplace, and dear to my heart in ways I can’t even begin to explain.

North of the river for me. Always.

Oh dear, TragicMuse. We will have to agree to disagree on the relative merits of north and south of the river, for fear of otherwise creating a schism as vast as that at the Folkestone conference in ‘98, when the Archbishop offered such an interpretation of Stovold so controversial that even the high commissioner’s attempts at diplomacy failed.

And has anyone seen the colonel recently?

Westminster

I heard that the colonel was recently on a Danube cruise. I just hope he didn't get into the same… shall we say high spirits as when he was exploring the Norwegian fjords with that nice able seaman from Stavanger.

Cockfosters

Very able indeed (or so the contessa vouchsafed to me, after one too many limoncello spritzes). But you know I abhor gossip and so I am
moving swiftly on to

Putney Bridge

Australian Rules (Stovold Appendix E.). Earl's Court.

High Street Kensington seems a short and wise move. I cannot comment on the Colonel's whereabouts, and the Major has not been seen for a while.

A limoncello spritz sounds delightful…

Kensal Rise.

Colliers Wood. Then a quick walk to South Wimbledon (allowed under Stavanger Movements) and a reverse to Battersea Power Station.

The Major was in the Royal Box at Wimbledon on Men's quarter-finals day.
Well, mostly he was topping up his Pimms in the members' bar, but I did catch a few glimpses of that distinctive panama of his watching the action.
Although only until about 4pm, come to think of it. There was a brief pause in proceedings that afternoon, and a bit of activity around that end of the court; I wonder if the, um, heat got to him and he was escorted out?

Finsbury Park, with a Finneman's Adjunct.

Dangerous drink, Pimm's Cup. We perhaps should not delve too deeply. A Reversed Godiva to Blackhorse Road.

Time to bring out the heavy artillery.

Greenwich Peninsula

One has to be careful not to get stranded with a peninsula.

Belsize Park.

I'm going to have to forfeit my Schlott's Advantage, but I think it's worth it to keep us seaworthy:

Oval

Good saves, chaps! Treasuring my dry toes and savouring the greensward, I'll launch a Merovingian googly to Borough..

Ships ahoy and shiver me timbers, as the Admiral is so fond of remarking!

Gallions Reach