Mind the Gap

07:17 / 28.06.02

Since it seems to be mainly UK folks on this board, I'll go out on a limb: anyone for a game of Mornington Crescent? Standard Chalk Farm rules (including the '88 Amendments), no inverse shunting on the diagonals?

07:18 / 28.06.02

(whoop - this is probably better suited for the Conversation area. Mea culpa.)

DRR... DRR... DRR...

10:04 / 28.06.02

Ah, but will we be using Jenkinson's unabridged Green guide to the Chalk Farm rules, or the condensed Blue?

10:17 / 28.06.02

Hmm. I'm a bit rusty (it's so hard to get a good game on this side of the pond), so I'm inclined to say Blue because of its simpler scope (its lack of Zone 2 crosshatching, for example), but on the other hand, the Green offers so much more in the way of lateral strile calculation and south-of-the-river Clamping derivation...

Heck with it. Let's use the Green version - might as well jump in with both feet, right? I'll start:

Pimlico

(A fairly pedestrian opening, but like I say, it's been a while - I'll warm up as we go.)

10:57 / 28.06.02

Holburn - I like to play the Svensonn strategy against an unknown opponent.

11:16 / 28.06.02

Yeah, but you want to be careful with that or you'll end up at Aldwych, and we all know what that means.

Whitechapel

A Haus of Minions

11:21 / 28.06.02

Inverse Capiolina. Interessssting.....

But.

Shadwell.

Hah! Suck it up! Suck it! Hah! Hah! Didn't think I'd dare, did you?

11:32 / 28.06.02

Pitiful, my old friend. You still using that tired strategem? You really should keep up with modern thinking, particularly with reference to the use of the southern Piccadilly loop and the reverse Circle shunt.

Debden.

Stitch that, wordy.

11:47 / 28.06.02

See - you think that'll get you out of gaol, but you're wrong... this is where tactical pincer movements come in very handy:

Plaistow.

A Haus of Minions

11:50 / 28.06.02

We're playing Green, you simpleton. For that you must proofread Direct Mail.

(That to Orr, obviosuly, although Kit-Kat has now created a cyclonic variant)

11:53 / 28.06.02

That hurts...

Better go back to Ealing Common in that case. Sorry chaps.

11:59 / 28.06.02

Watch for the Haus, he like to effect a reverse-stibbling and you'll lay yourself open to nefarious plans unless you close off your off-side flanks and open up a shunt channel to the postal quarters.

Sudbury Hill.

Neasden.

Hmm.... let me think.

Arnos Grove.

20:15 / 28.06.02

Wow! I may be out of my league here, but...

Morden.

And that's you in Knip I believe, Orr.

20:25 / 28.06.02

Damn you, RiffRaff, but you haven't bested me yet. I shun your Knip with a widdershins yardgarble.

Becontree.

And I trust that we are acknowledging the '97 Grebe ammendment on off-peak frottage and angle-poising...

Tezcatlipoca

20:36 / 28.06.02

Ah, but your hasty 'Luxemburg Shift' of course leaves me open to declare the controversial, yet legal:

Euston Road

09:14 / 29.06.02

And I trust that we are acknowledging the '97 Grebe ammendment on off-peak frottage and angle-poising...

Drat! I broke my slide-rule!

Pass

Alex Thoth

06:11 / 02.07.02

What the hell does Mind the Gap mean anyway?

10:37 / 02.07.02

It's a chant for mildly irritated, middle-aged, middle-class protesters who object, theoretically, to overt consumerism and the corporate take-over of society, but do find pastels, khakis and cashmere pullovers soothing and just so damn stylish.

cf "MacDonalds - it doesn't taste that good", "Starbucks - you could make it at home for less" and "Whither Microsoft?".

Mansion House

11:07 / 02.07.02

Tezcatlipoca - Euston Road? Shurely shome mishtake - I think you'll find that the Doppelganger manoeuvre can only be performed after the double Luxembourg shift. Tsssk. Still, we must take what we are given...

Swiss Cottage

DRR... DRR... DRR...

11:20 / 02.07.02

(imp: The dreaded Gap is the space between the tube-train and the edge of the platform. It is a gaping maw of death for the unwary.)

Hmmm....

Bounds Green

15:01 / 02.07.02

Soooo tempting to set it up here, but I won't...

Aldgate

17:43 / 02.07.02

Ok, safety first, what with people ganging-up to box me onto the diagonals.

Osterley

And let's hope that opens the game out a bit.

Tezcatlipoca

19:38 / 02.07.02

It does indeed, and thank-you Orr:

Goodge Street

grant

00:30 / 03.07.02

impulsive: What the hell does Mind the Gap mean anyway?

In England, all the trains are magical trains, and all the trains can talk, and the magic words you can sometimes hear them say are "Mind the Gap."
It is rumored that by reciting the names of certain stations in order, you can become a master of the trains, and they will begin speaking to you and telling you their secrets. And the trains of London have many secrets.....

grant

01:02 / 03.07.02

Oh, and just in case anyone's offended at my off-topicness, I'll take a stake in, let's say... Maida Vale, which (if I'm remembering the rules right) is a legal move using the Fitzmartin clarifications. (...which we used as standard when I was playing way back when.)

04:36 / 03.07.02

Hmm. I've always been a bit leery of the Fitzmartin Clairifications (particularly after it was revealed that he misspelt "Blackfriars" as "Morden" throughout the text), but I suppose it shouldn't cause too much of a problem here... and anyway, I don't want this to degenerate into a lot of pedantic rules-mongering, like that terrible display between Adam McMasters and Wu Chang-Li at the '92 tournament in Brussels. So, I'll let it go.

Bank (taking the escalator to Monument)

11:14 / 03.07.02

I don't think you can DO that...

12:24 / 03.07.02

Hmm, after the infamous Barry Cryer/Willie Rushton incident of '79 opinion is divided. Meeker in his seminal work "Synchronicity, the DLR and anomalous station spacing" comes down on the side of permitting the move, but purists still frown on such an unsporting gesture. Personally I regard it as legal but not in accordance with the spirit of the game. In the interests of maintaining a harmonious atmosphere I suggest that we permit RiffRaff's tactic to stand, but impose a crowding delay of seven LU 'minutes' to allow the other players to adjust their strategies accordingly. Further shady practise, particularly use of service replacement buses, should be met with derailing and the removal of travelcard privileges.

And we continue:

Dollis Hill

14:46 / 03.07.02

I saw you change that mid-go, you lowdown cheating get. Grrrr. I'll have you for that.

Pimlico.

Ha!

grant

17:53 / 03.07.02

Inspired by RiffRaff's quibble with Fitzmartin, I will shunt to Victoria.

And for the record, Chang-Li was in the right. McMasters blew it when he overlooked the rules on platform maintenance closures limiting play. He should never have left the central ring.

18:25 / 03.07.02

What? I never! Honest, Kit-Cat, I was just...LOOK OVER THERE

slips across to Surrey Quays

Er, KCC, that appears to be your good self in a reverse-Knip with partial tunnel closure. How did that happen?

18:32 / 03.07.02

Cheeky beggar. Reverse knip my foot - well, perhaps it is a reverse knip, but I am damned if I'll be caught in it. Sooo... using the Non-High-Days and Holidays Off-Peak slow service rule (elifgible, I believe, under the Green Code) and a cunning side slip, I lea\ve you at

Mudchute