Octopus's Garden Issue Forty-Four

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HELLO, good evening and welcome to issue 44 of Octopus's Garden, the subzeen with its very own post-Special 5th Anniversary Issue hiatus. An html version of this subzeen is available on the Web at http://www.manorcon.demon.co.uk/octopus/index.html. It's also sent to the TAP mailing list, which you can join automatically by sending the message 'subscribe tap' to >majordomo@diplom.org. The message 'unsubscribe tap' sent to the same address will get you off the mailing list.

Round 6 -- "William Rufus de Vane King" -- RR 1701 TT

Railway Rivals Map TT (Leapfrog) 6,5,4

GOOCH, brown: Conrad von Metzke: 6a) (Stockton) - L73 [-1 P] - M73 [-1 P] ; (D12) - Haltwhistle [+6] ; 6b) (I74) - I75 [-1 P] ; (Haltwhistle) - A11 ; 6c) (I55) - *LEAP green* (I53) [-1 T] - K52 [-1 P] [-1 B] =59+6-4[P]-1[B]-1[T]+2[P]+2[B]+1[T]=64
BLUES, blue: Berry Renken: 6a) (B59) - B56 [-1 T] [-1 G] ; (D59) - Chester-le-Street ; 6b) (I72) - Stockton ; (I71) - J70 [-1 P] - K71 [-1 G] ; (J24) - H23 ; 6c) (H23) - St. John's Chapel [+6] ; (Barnard Castle) - I29 - I28. =48+6-2[G]-1[T]-1[P]+4[T]+1[G]+1[P]=56
TURN, green: Rip Gooch: 6a) (Hexham) - K13 - L12 - L11 - K11 - K9 ; 6b) (K9) - Bellingham [+6] ; (G68) - F68 [-1 B] *LEAP Blue* (H70) [-1 B] - H71 - Stockton [-2 B] [-1 G] . 6c) (A61) - M22 - M24. =77+6-4[B]-1[G]+1[G]+1[B]=80
PEAT, pink: Richard Weiss.: 6a) (L43) - L42 - M42 - M41 ; (L19) - K19 - I20 ; 6b) (J73) - J74 - I75 ; (J67) - K67 - L67 [-1 G] ; (L42) - Alnwick ; 6c) (J54) - J55 [-1 B] ; (Stockton) - I73 [-1 G] ; (B61) - B60 - Annfield Plain. =58-2[G]-1[B]+4[G]+1[B]=60

For Round 7, you may enter up to 4 races and build up to 14 physical points of track (i.e. payments to rivals do not count against the limit, although of course you still pay them.) Could you all let me have Round Seven orders by FRIDAY, 14th JANUARY, 2000 to Peter Sullivan, octopus@manorcon.demon.co.uk

Races for Round Seven :

1) (15-26) Morpeth - Wylam
2) (24-53) Allendale - Chester-le-Street
3) (36-64) Tynemouth - Stockton
4) (43-32) Barnard Castle - Newcastle
5) (52-42) Annfield Plain - Middleton
6) (61-@5) Darlington - Scotland
7) (@3-13) Rest of England - Rothbury

PRESS:

GOOCH - TURN and PEAT: So. I take it you're not planning to challenge blue's dominance in the 40s. Well, neither am I. But you're closer, so it's your fault. (P.S. Please take no notice of my own dominance in the 20s. Except Rip, who can have Bellingham. And is already in Hexham. Hey, listen, buster, why the hell are you coming after MY monopoly??? I ain't the one gonna win this game, Berry is. Go get HIM!)

BLUES: Congratulations with OG's first lustrum!

GENEVA: Indeed. There's no lustrum like your first lustrum, I always say.

TURN - GOOCH: Losing? One cannot lose what one nevermhad. I rather think of it as preparing for a failure to win.

TURN - All: Service may be a little erratic. My new job is hectic and time-consuming. At least I'm not bored.

PEAT-Rivals: I feel soooo special that y'all find my track so perfectly laid that y'all are leapfrogging it. Beware the curious little boys who are trying to catch you for their sadism experiences. PS - Happy Thanksgiving to all.

PEAT-TURN: I still have not come to peace with you for your obnoxious and short-sighted build from K48-Ashington. Were the points really worth it? Wouldn't you rather have those builds back right about now to connect to something worthwhile?

PEAT-BLUES: You turned West when I headed East. You have all the solos and I am trapped with middle america in the gooch. Now the racing starts so we find out which was the best strategy. Speaking of Blues, I saw some strange blues in Palm Springs during the week - a haolie voice, wanted to play Joe Turner, but rockabillied it all. Only sounded good when covering BB - who I am privileged to see again, in a relatively small venue, pretty good seats, 11/22.

Round 5 -- "John C. Breckinridge" -- RR 1702 TK

Railway Rivals Map TK

Round 4 corrections: REDNECK built (K10) - Jackson, not (H10) - Jackson as I said. TSR's payments to BOURBON in 4a) were listed in the orders, but not shown in the payments - b/fwd scores duly adjusted.

BOURBON, violet : Mike Barno: 5a) (K12) - K11 - I 10 ; (Louisville) - C75 ; 5b) (I 10) - Jackson - I8 ; 5c) (W21) - W19 - Owensboro ; (I8) - I5. =39+1[Bl]+1[T]=41
BLUES, blue : Berry Renken: 5a) (I18) - J17 - L18 [-1 Bo] - M18. 5b) (M18) - O17. 5c) (O17) - P16 [-1 R] - Q17 - R16 - T17 [-1 T] [-4 T] - U17. =29-1[Bo]-1[R]-5[T]+1[C]=33
REDNECK, red : Neil Hopkins: 5a) (E5) - Memphis [+6] ; (Dyersburg) - P8 ; 5b) (Louisville) - B76 [-5 C] ; 5c) (B76) - Frankfort [-7 C] - B81 [-3 C] - C82. =59+6-15[C]+1[Bl]=51
CUDZU, green : Richard Weiss: 5a) (Frankfort) - Louisville ; (B89) - Ashland [+6] ; 5b) (N36) - N35 - M35 [-1 Bl] ; 5c) (Morristown) - J38 ; (Louisville) - B72. =58+6-1[Bl]+15[R]=78
TSR, orange, Andrew Glynn: 5a) (I 14) - I 12 - J11 - J10 [-1 Bo] ; 5b) (G29) - E28 ; 5c) (S18) - W16 [-1 R] ; (K33) - Knoxville ; (J10) - J9 [-1 R]. =35-1[Bo]-2[R]+5[Bl]=37

Rolls for Round Six : 4, 6, 6. The deadline for Round Six orders is FRIDAY, 14th JANUARY, 2000 to Peter Sullivan, octopus@manorcon.demon.co.uk

PRESS:

CUDZU-ALL: Happy T-Day!

BOURBON to CUDZU: Of course I understand your "post-conscious epoch", Richard. It's what happens when there's too much variety in your self-medication regimen. (Example: any three forms of alcoholic beverage.) You lose consciousness, maybe your unconscious nervous system retains enough function for you to to some damfool thing like driving drunk, propositioning the boss's wife, or writing Weissian Diplomacy press. Then you pass out entirely.