pats ArizonaTeach
That was beautiful, and truly an inspiration for us all. My own mother was of Irish Catholic stock, and they don’t always have such an affection for the game.
My father is of German ancestry, and I got hints of the game from him, but never enough to play. Just strange allusions to various rules.
Turning to the game at hand, I will invoke the Macclesfield Initiative, which makes diagonals wild, and play Embankment.
With matt_mcl’s withdrawl of Victoria freeing up the Bakerloo line, I shall invoke Twittingtons and make my opening move as Baker Street. And lest anyone object, I direct your attention to the 42nd Edition of Macquarie’s Annotated Mornington Crescent, and more specifically to his comments regarding Gaslight Reverberation, which were mentioned at length in the IMCC’s minutes from the October '82 conference.
Admittedly, this does open the Metropolitan Line for Elevenses, but you’d be lucky to find a park at this time of day anyway, so I’m confident that particular “advantage” (if one could call it that) is somewhat moot anyway, even if the Queen of Spain rules were invoked for a line change at Elephant & Castle.
Well, Monument, then. It’s getting a bit feisty in here at the moment! Please note that Peak Hours is no longer in effect taps his watch.
Russell Square, per consecutive consonants.
Er, sorry, but no. You’ver got four consecutive consonants there, conflicting with the fact that you yourself have declared diagonals wild (imposing a limit of three consecutives on your next two moves). Shame, because apart from that it was a darn good move.
Well damn. Holloway Road it is, then.
At least my last move gave me the time to think, but look at how the board has lit up!
All right. DNR is mostly in Spoon, but being that we’re in Holloway Road I don’t see that I can do much about it.
Except…
Oh my goodness. You’re mentioning the German players, but I believe you may be ignorant of the reverence with which a small population of the Wendish have always held the game. A near forgotten culture, they settled in Texas in the 19th century and brought with them some fascinating treatises on the art of the game.
And I’ll have you know my Calculus professor was Wendish.
It’s an obscure rule, I know, but I’m going to take the Dopinski Approach. I know, before you say anything, the Moorgate ricochet is a little hazy, but I must remind you of the Irongate Treaty of 1919 allowing a Moorgate ricochet on a triple rebound – and it is not, technically, crossing the Circle Line! (Ref: Szlauosch’s Stratagems, pp. 418-422)
With Hammersmith & City’s velocity at this hour, I am safely at Upton Park – and Straddled, thank you very much.
I know I don’t have to warn you about bifurcation at this point.
Sorry to check in so late on this one - probably moot by now, but it took me a long time to work out the permutations in connection with Metro free paper stacking statistics and accumulation. I think it was a valid play, but there might be repercussions further down the line (pun intended).
Now that’s settled, then, I’ll take a leaf out of old “Stiffy” Pilkington’s book - remember “Stiffy”, ianzin? Used to do a novelty turn on the washboard at club nights if the game was a bit slow - and hurry over to West Harrow.
To forestall the most obvious objections, I’ll point out that at least one location in the country experienced more than an inch of rain last night and so “Wet Weather” rules are in effect (Harcourt & Fenton, 2003 hardback edition, pp36-37 and footnotes). Not to be confused with “Rain Stopped Play” as the Test Match is over now, of course. Galoshes may be played.
And with that, Picadilly Circus, and by virtue of the Benington Cross rule and the West Harrow play, I avoid the green token penalty that would normally apply. I’ve been waiting for an opportune moment to make an entry, and I must thank Malacandra for providing one. Actually, I should thank Little Plastic Ninja, whose Upton Park play made this situation quite likely to arise. I’m also happy to be able to diffuse the bifurcation issue, at least for now.
But just wait, two moves from now, someone will play Cockfosters, and my token will be forfeit anyway. I’ve never understood why so many players are inclined to execute a manoeuvre that incurs virtually all of the drawbacks of an Aldwych play, with only a few of the advantages, all for the purpose of penalizing a latecomer, but nonetheless, two of three times, it seems to happen.
As an aside, I’ve been told that Charles Dornan (yes, that Charles Dornan) was in the employ of the publisher when this error was made, and “resigned” shortly after 7th ed. hit the shelves. UK libel laws being what they are, I’ll say no more, but there are some that believe that Grimstad’s omission was not so inadvertent.
I think I catch the gist of your move (though I must confess, my novicitude has me doubting myself at every turn) but I think that I can use this to announce a Trans-Continental Link-Associated Northern Block (TCLANB) and Lambeth North.
(BTW, sometimes I still wake up screaming at 2:00 A.M. “Why? Why, O Og, Why?” because of that horrible decision to allow cross-bridge transversals in that semi-final match)
Well, crap, that makes Waterloo unattainable, doesn’t it? And puts me on forced pass for two, to boot. I’ll sit here with the small consolation that my token is safe. The next move ought to be interesting…
Hee! Marylebone, which puts a token on Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush (just the H&C ones).
I don’t think that anyone will be invoking Quorn rules for the next little while, wouldn’t you say?
Swiss Cottage and I am opening up Fly-Baker.
Oxford Circus.
Damn, Sunspace that was my move.
You leave me no option but…Ealing Broadway.
Oxdown Road
A little unorthodox, but if you read your Littling & Sunnower carefully, Section 3 discusses just this gambit in detail. By the way, this also permits cross-street junctions every other turn.
I should still be able to jump to Island Gardens, then.
Hounslow East. Strachans split.
I don’t know if you are aware, but the organisers of the '98 North European Conference League Finals decided they ought to have some sort of ‘half-time entertainment’, and had the inspired (?) idea of getting Pilkington to do his ‘act’ for the assembled throng. I hesitate to speak unkindly of such a delightful gentleman, but there’s no getting around it: he was awful! Very embarassing really, and far from suitable for an event of such importance. This may be one reason why it’s an experiment that has seldom been repeated. Incidentally, that was the first tournament where I ever saw someone successfully manage a tri-reversal in the face of a lateral shift play. Medway managed it somehow in his tough match against Penkle. Lost anyway, poor chap.