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

Oh dear. The game seems to have stalled. I'd better deploy the MC weapon of mass destruction - a triple Warburton with demi-salchow to

Gloucester Road.

Take that!

As The Young folk say Maude, Boom!
Not surprised the game has stalled after last night.Now remind me, what's the quickest way back from Ulan Bator?

Via Wagga Wagga of course, Fuckery.

From Gloucester Road it is time for some last minute shopping at High Street Kensington

Shopping?

Isn't that what the servants are for?

The only place where shopping is acceptable is Fortnum and Masons so Green Park and yah boo shucks to anyone who says otherwise!

I have to admit that the F+M marmalade is wonderful.

I play the disused stations rule and move to Down Street

This game is in crisis. The MC Grand Council has just met in its usual place (by the dustbins outside the KFC at Victoria Station) and suspended Rule 238(xxiii) indefinitely - except on the Eastbound Central Line because of the effect on the TransPennine Link if it were suspended there - and has also decided that until further notice there is to absolutely no mention of the Member of Parliament, the kangaroo, and the tin of Quality Street.

Which emboldens me to break the deadlock by playing

Hetton-le-Hole

I know Andrew! The colonel is stalking the corridors of the family pile muttering vile imprecations on their grandparents, their dogs and their offspring to the tenth generation. Mater just muttered-"leave him be, it's going to be Singapore all over again." And locked up the elephant gun. Hetton-le-hole? Well, it's original. So it must be Wallsend.

Hmm. In view of the alternative, I'm letting you all off lightly with

Newton le Willows

I wonder if there are willows in Newton le Willows? As they do not shed their leaves, at least there would be no excuse for late trains there.

Via Virgin Trains in the week before the celebration of the virgin birth I return to the capital (almost) and arrive at Watford Junction. Always a bit wary of junctions after the incident at Evercreech in 1961 which probably led to its closure.

A nasty, dangerous place, that. (Watford Junction, I mean, not Evercreech. That business in 1961 was all a misunderstanding between the station-master and the Bishop).

Virgin Trains leads - inevitably - to Maidenhead.

And playing the Crossrail rule it is a foregone conclusion to go to Slough

Oh, is Crossrail allowable now? I am out of date. If so

Pudding Mill Lane

With a follow in to Lanesborough of course.

Lanesborough, eh? I SE what you're up to, Andrew, but I'm going to stop you in your tracks with a swift Murdoch to

Edgware Road

The last Crescenter who claimed to know what I was up to . . . no, let's leave it there with a mention of the bottle of tartare sauce, OK?

Pinner

Andrew-an enigma wrapped in a mystery etc.
From Pinner I feel it's time to move closer to the metropolis, so Swiss Cottage.

So we can welcome the losing England cricket team home if they come back to Lords i move the short distance to St John's Wood. Where I once went to a carol service, and I think there was a painting of one of the Major's ancestors on the wall. It would be a most suitable location for the next meeting of the Grand Council.

England teams do not lose; they play the long game. They are preparing the equipment (and especially the tomato-pips and the viola) for the next series.

SJW is nice in its way; but as you must be aware, Saints, that painting is a fake. As is the Major. They deserve each other.

It's time for something a little more subtle, and if it's subtle you are after, well, this is the right shop.

Parsons Green - and don't forget that the Waterloo and City is in Rollockings until the Nones of January or the next lunar occultation, whichever occurs sooner.

Look. We need to stop faffing about and make some sensible steps towards what we all agree is our nirvana, our ultimate destination. So enough of these beginners' moves and let's have a Demi-Pringle (first introduced in Baden Baden in '74, as those of you who were there for the Weihnachten competition will recall, although sadly the Colonel was absent again as he was in rehab indisposed) to

Colliers Wood

You call it faffing around, I call it careful professional play. I remember Baden-Baden '74 with mixed feelings and you know why - the Commander never quite forgave the Group-Captain but I blame them both. Of course most of the fault must lie with whoever it was who mixed Lucozade into the Archdeacon's Lucozade.

In rehab? I heard that the Colonel was the guest of the French taxpayer after that business in Marseilles with the golden retriever. But perhaps you are right.

On the other hand you are completely wrong about playing a demi-anything on a Saturday, any Saturday, especially December 24! Think on Rule 176(xii) and on what happened at Breslau in 1928 (sorry to stir up painful memories, but needs must) and repent.

So I am going to pull the irons out of the fire by playing Iver.

I join the Colonel, the Rear Admiral and the Archbishop in wishing you all a very merry Christmas (which it certainly will be if someone opens the customary barrel of absinthe).

So let's raise a toast to

Cricklewood

There's only one place for a good drink-up on Christmas Day and I am on my way in hopes that Pingu still has some of her great-aunt's infamous Maltese cooking sherry.

See you in Brighton, people. Oh, and the Town Clerk is expecting us and the Mayor's Parlour is ready with the Battenberg and the dumplings!

I trust that my fellow MCers are enjoying the Festive Season. I have just returned from the family pile, where communication with the outside world (and, indeed, with each other) is practically non-existent.

The excitement of being back in the throbbing metropolis is almost overwhelming, and I shall therefore play a double jete with side flip a la Jacobite to

Marble Arch

And festive greetings to you, too, Irene.

Never mind the Maltese cooking sherry. The thing that true connoisseurs want to get their hands on is the poteen that the Cononel brewed from potato peelings when he was in the Scrubs after that unfortunate business with the Carry On actress, the pomegranate and the suitcase full of counterfeit tenners. So, obviously,

Gidea Park