Once more unto the breach, dear friends: more Mornington Crescent

[MyNightWithMaud]

Now we have had a little pause, in which to mull over the highs and lows of the last game and possibly rethink our strategies, might it be nice to start again?

I've been reflecting on what the vice-consul said in Ouagadougou in '67. She was quite right, after all, and so I shall disregard the naysayers and offer you a Musgrave's Collateral to

Oxford Circus

I believe three moves after Edinburgh is usually the point for a double-tap-Michaelmas spindle? I know what you're going to say Andrew but don't worry, it's entirely legal as long as the Duke's Boarding House hasn't yet crossed over from Pardew to Withering. Which it hasn't.
So with that in mind, Bank.

I think that three stations from Bank maybe appropriate, and as there is the interchange with Monument (commemorating the 1666 fire), play the 1899 rule and move to King William Street

So clearly it has to be

Victoria

So I think we need retail therapy to slow down for a day, and so one stop west to Sloane Square

A bit down market for me, don't you know?

Hove

Well, if it's the seaside you're after

Murmansk

its only a step then to South Kensington

From Murmansk to south Kensington is simply not cricket. If we are going to completely disregard the rule book, and I believe we are currently playing to Volume XV, revision 27, then there is really no point in continuing! Weegie I declare you to be in Nidd and move us all back on to a safe footing at Cockfosters.

And you can join her Ma, as our favourite double entendre has already been played this game. Sorry.
Instead, here we go to Brixton.

Well my goodness! I was so shocked at the blatant Murmansk to South Kensington that I quite forgot myself. I shall while away Nidd with a glass of Clare Valley Riesling and plot a dastardly return to the fray once suitably fortified.

Brixton on a Friday requires a journey from Marylebone (see Rule 127(xiii) as revised at Aberdeen in '63) but before I tell you where we are going, some good news: the military attaché has got her credentials back (well, after all, how long could the FCO fret over that bloody panda?) and will be signing copies of her new book at Waterstones tomorrow.

But the MC train will be at Kidderminster.

The Midlands has allegedly been a place where Londoners most depart for, which I find surprising. So we should explore the area and I go to Stourbridge Junction.

I'm not sure about Cockfosters being played twice in one game.

Now that's a hellhole Saints and I hope you have your purple wimple and your bucket of prawns with you. You are in grave danger without.

It's time for a Caledonian Westerly (grottings being closed for repairs until 31 November) and I raise you all:

Ballachulish

I think a dram may be called for to keep out the cold and so a visit to Balloch with the aid of the ferry link rule is called for. Little chance of prawns or even prawn sandwiches there.

I confess to being somewhat adrift with all this talk of ferries and prawns so take us safely back to the mainland at Glasgow Queen Street
As there is a meteor shower tonight, may I suggest that all players buckle up. It's going to get rough!

Thanks for the warning, Ma, and I am going to rely on the Third Proviso to Rule 219(ix) (Fourth Revision, promulgated after Bucharest '93, wasn't that a riot when MummyPingu got at the Bourbon!) and had off in a flying machine to Lerwick

Has mummypingu servedhersentence come back from holiday yet? I agree a Third Proviso is a safe move when celestial movements are affecting play,and continue on to Stornaway.

Oh, this is getting ridiculous. Evidently you've all forgotten that more than three Hibernian moves could plunge us all into froggings, with no way out until somebody plays a lateral Chassis, which in itself is highly unlikely while MamaPingu is still under curfew indisposed.

So, let some sanity return with

Baker Street

Thank goodness you stepped in Maud. Being domiciled in Caledonia naturally precluded me from playing a cross border transverse and I was bound to refrain from mentioning froggings under the Sturgeon/Salmon ruling of 2014 for northern players. Shall we regroup at Euston?

I think a short journey to Angel to mull over these Caledonian excursions without going to Caledonian Road is in order. No need to cross even the border into zone 2, which has proved somewhat troublesome when made on a Sunday. It is the Feast of John Henry Newman today, after all.

I like the cut of your jib, dementedma.

Newman was not much of a MC player, as I recall - spent more time in nidd than in play - but to honour his memory

Oxford Circus

Oh, what's so awful about froggings? Being there is not so bad once you have taken the plunge. Of course it's better if you smear yourself with a mixture of Marmite (or rancid used axle grease, if indeed they are not the same thing) and calamine lotion and carry a coy of the Iliad, but then, is not that the normal state of affairs for high MC adepts?

The Circus stations always direct my mind to John le Carre - I had the privilege of losing to that most subtle of players at Wakefield although I cannot mention the year - so it has to be Moscow.

Marmite is love-it-or-hate-it. You can only do one, and personally I do both. Froggings is completely avoidable for any likeminded players by sidestepping widdershins on a sunny Monday to Pimlico.

Ah pimlico. Many happy memories of trysting with a military chap there. Can never see it on a tub email without a frisson of delight followed by a wave of sadness. He was never the same after the amputation, and the incident with the vicar and the ear trumpet in the county bridge finals put an end to anything standing to attention. Ah well, onto Piccadilly

Military matters are not my forte and to be honest the play by dementedma is such a clever one given that the Piccadilly line is already traversed as is most of the Bakerloo. So the Night Tube rule has to be played, and as none run on either line, I can take a Night Bus or two and leave at Woodford