tubechallenge.com

It can't be that hard - I've just set this one up in about ten minutes. (It does have advertising though.)

Ah, I was thinking of MediaWiki. And have you never heard of Adblock?

I find this thread most unbelievable, though I don't have a problem with it.

Warning for any guest readers/lurkers, we're not all complete nutcases

Yeah, we just run round the tube, as one does.

tractakid wrote:I find this thread most unbelievable, though I don't have a problem with it.

Warning for any guest readers/lurkers, we're not all complete nutcases

Well, you were one of the original contributors. If I remember correctly, you were the one who came up with the idea of orange trees growing in Norwich

Isn't this simply a mental version of the Tube Challenge? I can't see why putting all the station names in a story makes you any more of a nutcase than running around them. I know which one I prefer doing

Well, the original idea of stringing a nonsensical story together with tube stations contained within makes sense... but spending a lot of time and effort into refining the story to make sense and become believable, I don't understand. Part of the point for me was the bizarre humour that it was possible to utilise- everybody kilburning to death in the second post.

tractakid wrote:Well, the original idea of stringing a nonsensical story together with tube stations contained within makes sense... but spending a lot of time and effort into refining the story to make sense and become believable, I don't understand.

Trust me, I've had more fun doing this than anything for a long time. Trying to turn a load of semi-coherent ramblings into sense appeals to me somehow...

Part of the point for me was the bizarre humour that it was possible to utilise- everybody kilburning to death in the second post.

It'd have been a pretty short story if you'd had your way though!

tubeguru wrote:

GuyBarry wrote:I've still got some time on my hands at the moment

Understatement of the year.

The humour is really what makes the forum what it is - not many of us go in for long arduous tasks here, apart from Tube Challenging (with a few exceptions). And even on the Tube Challenging front - you don't see Marc Gawley (his challenge is the perfect example of long arduous tasks) on the forum, do you?

GuyBarry wrote:

Part of the point for me was the bizarre humour that it was possible to utilise- everybody kilburning to death in the second post.

It'd have been a pretty short story if you'd had your way though!

Not necessarily - we could simply have a huge plot hole. It's been done before many, many times.

The Orange One wrote: The humour is really what makes the forum what it is - not many of us go in for long arduous tasks here, apart from Tube Challenging (with a few exceptions).

If I thought this task was remotely arduous I wouldn't have got into it. The more it goes on, the more fun it is. I can't conceive of spending my time running round tube stations, but sitting here at my computer making up silly stories seems much more appealing.

And even on the Tube Challenging front - you don't see Marc Gawley (his challenge is the perfect example of long arduous tasks) on the forum, do you?

I think he made one post, but he certainly had a different attitude from most of the contributors here.

GuyBarry wrote:

Part of the point for me was the bizarre humour that it was possible to utilise- everybody kilburning to death in the second post.

It'd have been a pretty short story if you'd had your way though!

Not necessarily - we could simply have a huge plot hole. It's been done before many, many times.

So we write the whole thing as a post-apocalyptic novel like The Day of the Triffids? I suppose that's a possibility...

So, GuyBarry. As a thinker rather than a do-er, in terms of tube challenging, does the concept of route planning appeal to you at all?

tractakid wrote:So, GuyBarry. As a thinker rather than a do-er, in terms of tube challenging, does the concept of route planning appeal to you at all?

Oh, I can imagine getting into that, although I've never tried it. It's the running between stations that I wouldn't be able to manage. A little while ago there was a thread about a challenge which involved arriving and departing all stations by Tube train, which I might conceivably be able to attempt (although as I recall it requires more than 24 hours to complete).

On the other hand, having recently spent the best part of 12 hours on the same bus, I've a feeling I might start to go crazy after a while...

Just noticed that the words "Where two different stations" have been left in by mistake on page 3.
Also, page 36 ends with the words "They decided to go on a grand tour of the country", which are no longer required.

Restructured version of the story is now here. The major changes are:

(1) Wes appears from the very beginning, listening to BBC Radio Kent. The references to the school have been dropped.
(2) The contamination in the water now makes birds sing beautifully rather than choke - I thought that would be more likely to attract spectators!
(3) Wes captures the birds from London Zoo (getting round the problem of who they originally belonged to).
(4) The whole section with Richard, Ava, the Boy Scouts, the exterminators and John Collier has been brought forward so that it starts after the witch doctor episode as a separate plot-line. As a result, the character of Mrs White has been dropped and it's now Richard who moves house and gets caught in the storm.
(5) The Cluedo episode has been dropped (including the Reverend Green).
(6) The character of the cannibal has also been dropped. The scene where Ava is almost attacked by the cannibal becomes a scene where Don is arrested by Inspector Street, and it's Don who gets sentenced rather than the cannibal.
(7) John's appearance at Eurovision is explained by the fact that the Irish are deliberately trying to lose. The identities of the "Azerbaijani" Eurovision act aren't revealed until the moment they're arrested.

I've kept the idea of chapters but the rewrite has necessitated dividing it up slightly differently, so there are now eight chapters instead of nine.

As a result of the above changes, a few of the station references have had to be rewritten and/or moved: Canary Wharf, White City, Mansion House, Manor House, Green Park, Balham and Morden. I'll let you all work out what I've done with them

(I also rewrote Tooting Broadway because I thought of a better idea. Hope RobbieM doesn't mind!)

I think it flows substantially better now. What do others think?

An editable version is now here. Feel free to make any changes but please say what you've done.

GuyBarry wrote:An editable version is now here. Feel free to make any changes but please say what you've done.

I prefer the original introduction of Wes from a storytelling point of view, sorry.