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

Saints Table for two then. Curry is always the answer.

But I'm taking the scenic route so this comes to you from Easington.

In memory of all those who lost their lives at Aberfan, a coal community such as Easington seems appropriate. One of the last coal mines in the North East of England was at Ashington, which I visit via the closed stations rule.

I assume there are engineering works on Sunday so play this rule to return to Darlington

And because I was stuck there today for half an hour due to power lines being down I give you bloody York.(I won't mention which tube station I actually found myself in earlier, because due to the Parker circumferential diagnostic, it would mean abandoning all play until the fifth Wednesday after 12th night. Not commonly played, I grant you, but I am ever the traditionalist)

We must maintain balance so after York we must, painful though it is, hto *

Sorry.

Painful though it is we must demean ourselves by visiting Lancaster

There, I've said it. As Julian would say, I have purged myself.

The Cathedral in Lancaster was where I sort absolution one Sunday in the early 1990s on the way to the Lake District, not long after the Cotswold incident which is fortunately rarely spoken about.

So it is to the said Lakes and Oxenholme I go to, hoping there are no people who remember my former visit. Must wear a hat then.

Ha - that means I can play the Miniature Railway rule (from the 1983 edition, Annex 3(b)) to Ravenglass

Oh sweet baby cheesus I thought I missed it. I was perusing the 1983 Fitzhugh-Castlereagh addendum to the 1978 guidelines and realised that a detour via St Margarets was suitable given the time of day.

In 1978 punk came along and then New Wave and one of the finest exponents is one Paul Weller, of the Jam at the time. The 1978 guidelines were ripped up by the few young people who played MC at the time.

So a trip from St Margarets to the nearest tube station that is open beyond midnight seems a sensible move. Off to Tottenham Hale it is.

Now that's daring. In fact foolhardy. In the interest of the greater good I restore sanity by moving is to Selsey.

Down in the tube station at midnight, indeed. 1978 was a difficult year for me, what with the divorce, the extradition and that small matter with the governor of the Bank of England, the sousaphone and the crate of lychees. Luckily, things have got a little better since then and so I offer you a seismic Penfold to

Moorgate

So we are near to the Square Mile and the Billingsgate fish porters will be busy. I go to their new home via this DLR sat at the front pretending to be the drive and leave for the market at Poplar

Maud The trouble with the sousaphone is that it was out of tune. I snaffled it (you probably saw through my disguise; good, wasn't it?) and had it retuned. The lychees were beyond rescue, and as for the governor of the Bank of England, well, he never really got over the shock. You should have kept your wellies on.

All markets are common in every possible sense and I give you Bourse in Brussels.

You were definitely missed at the Combined Mornington Crescent and Ladies' Caber Tossing Association Biennial Silver Band's summer concert that year. Their rendition of the musical recording Paranoid lacked a certain something.
Bourse eh? Best quickly depart. A sharp exit (just like 20 years ago, but this time without diamonds secreted about my person) to rotten Rotterdam.

Some former Defence Secretary does this television programme where he tours parts of Europe. No idea if he plays MC though his former patch was visited earlier in the game. So I follow his route from Rotterdam to Haarlem

Slinky I couldn't make the concert because I could not get a visiting order for Holloway where it was of necessity held that year. I have a copy (but I wish I had the negative) of that photo of the Assistant Governor and the orang-utang. They look so happy.

A double-vowel station, hey?

Righty-ho then.

Loos-en-Gohelle.

And so across the border to the plain but effective

Gate de Waterloo

This European tour should come to an end. Back to Blighty and Abbey Wood where Crossrail will soon begin.

I am given to understand that this Cross Rail project will not use steam powered trains. No good can come of it.

Blighty if you like, but let us see something of the provinces regions. We must stoop to conquer. Settle.

Oh, and good news, the mongoose is back in town and is in training on the GWR.

Well on this foggy day one must pay homage to that classic of cinema Withnail and I, and so move to Penrith nearby where some of it was filmed.

I rarely attend cinematographic entertainments - if they were to become commonplace they would do great damage to the theatre. It is just as well that they are silent.

I have arranged for us all to meet the Archdeacon at Hereford - there to celebrate the ancient mediaeval festival of Hallowe'en which seems to have become less common since that appalling man Cromwell. What happened to him, does anyone know?

But, dear Andrew, the cinematograph can be most diverting, especially on a winter evening. The cautionary tale of young master Withnail is one that ought to be shared with any indigent young person who might be tempted into the ways of corruption and depravity.

And speaking of corruption and depravity, where are we most likely to avoid it, but at

Penge West?

I think the Sunday afternoon walking rule should be brought into play so that the benefits of the autumn air and views can clear the mind of any thoughts of depravity on the Lord's Day. So to Penge East it is.

And from there to the breezy heights of

Crystal Palace