Mornington Crescent....

[BratFarrarsPony]

Well as I won the last game fairly and squarely despite not being as quick as the old lags....I will start another game.

Gants Hill

You may be acting the canny lad, LateDad, but you don't fool me. Rule 114.5a was declared null many years ago (probably, if I recall correctly) that the Great Compendium of MC Rules volumes i - xxxviii was revised and reprinted. It now only applies in the Southern Hemisphere when Neptune is retrograde. So I'm playing a left-handed Perkins to

Brixton

So then ... if we are playing THOSE rules ...

Ruislip Gardens

Come on now LateDad - play fair. There is at least one on this thread who is doing the Abbreviated Course for Novices and whatever you and I might think of these short cuts that's a commitment to twelve years of intensive study. Don't put people off who are the future of MC.

Frinton

Ah, Andrew, always here to defend the underdog.

Hove

I thought we were down to three in this game? In which case are we not playing Branch Line Rules, as agreed at the 1944 convention at Caen? I'm not expecting the "Bicycles Carried Free" rule or even "Pets and Other Animals are Wild" rule but I'd claim this is definitely a case of "Passengers Must Not Cross The Line"

And so (in a bit of a huff and a grump) ...

Hebden Bridge

Down to three? It's not yet seven days since Saints posted - and while it would obviously not be right to reveal what the Grand NC Council has said on the matter that is far too soon to exclude such a senior player.

H. Bridge is a nice enough spot but I think we will all be safer if I play a Hammond's Corkscrew to Seaham Harbour.

As you'll come to appreciate, LateDad, somewhere around your third year on these threads, some of our fellow travellers (see what I did there) in this game prefer to make an occasional strategic withdrawal to contemplate their next move - reculer pour mieux sauter, so to speak. And then there are those such as Irene who are often detained on matters of state importance and so perforce must have an occasional gap in play.

Be that as it may, I see that the only option now is Hamilton's Demi-Flip to

Turnham Green

So in the middle of the afternoon we are in west London. I thank the suggestion that I am a senior player, which surprises me as my first game was only back in 1997. Ironically it was a move to Turnham Green that ended that first game.

I venture cautiously westwards to Ealing Common

Ah, 1997 - the year of the business with the aardvark, the Diocesan Chancellor, and the bottle of ketchup - people are still not talking to each other because of that in West Clandon.

Without more ado ...

Tottenham Court Road

Well played, LateDad. The simplest moves can often be the most successful. I'm feeling a little skittish today, so

Limehouse

Oh Maud, how I do envy the little skittish you are feeling!

On which note and having consulted the barometer it can only be Carlisle

wags finger at Andrew I can see you're trying to tempt me into a siding reverse with Settle but I'm going to sidestep that with ...

Scarborough

(and if Maud doesn't do the 1974 Grand Proliferation I will be surprised)

Good job it is not too wet today. I think we can venture to Bridlington.

Whatever the weather - Bridlington, taken as a whole, is.

We will therefore proceed toot-sweet to Darlington where the coffee stall awaits our pleasure.

Far be it for me to spread idle gossip, but I've heard that the Grand Duchess has spent all day with the Little Skittish in the Imperial Suite of the Hotel Splendide, Bridlington, doing the Grand Proliferation.

I get a little fretful outside London, so I will speed us back to the

Archway

The Angel, Islington

Like hell, LateDad, I fell out of my cradle laughing at crude moves like that. I play a Radical Rebound (see Rule 187(xxiv)) and take us to Heysham.

I wonder if Heysham will be revived by ships to Ireland, given that Mr O'Leary is upsetting so many people. There is no way someone with so little graces has ever been an MC player.

I think the Lake District deserves a visit, and so Ravenglass it is.

No, no, no. We must get back to the centre of the known universe, otherwise known as

Russell Square

No, no, no. RS is well enough but if you want to find the centre of the universe you need to go through the unmarked door in the cleaner's cupboard at Prestatyn and remember to take three sets of clean underwear - and hope you guess the right colours!

A week in a caravan on the north Wales coast requires more than that. In any case the centre of the universe is Neasden, though with all the antiquities in the British Museum I can see why Russell Square was mistakenly chosen.

Using the heritage and closed lines rules, via changes of trains including Llandudno Junction, Porthmadoc, Aberystwyth, Shrewsbury, Birmingham New Street and Watford Junction, it is to Warwick Avenue I finally arrive. Needing a cuppa or something stronger.

Pity I missed today's cricket at the Oval which was interesting and sets up the last week of the English cricket season very well.

So, The Oval in the last week of the cricket season can only mean...Kennington

And thence to the gateway to the south

Balham

Typo there - you mean South Kensington

Pray, what is "cricket"? Is it yet another absurd pastime by which promising Crescenterd are distracted from their true destiny?