They Have Their Exits And Entrances!

    It never occurred until I was writing an article about Number 2’s term in office, and of Number 2’s arrival and departure, that he or she would have to take the same course as Number 6 when he attempted to escape The Village in ‘Many happy Returns.’ As Number 2 said in ‘The Schizoid Man,’  “Just a quick flip in the helicopter to the landing stage, to pick up the jet from there.” That’s a pity because that makes my idea crash and burn! But just a minute, Number 2 says “Landing stage,” he doesn’t mention anything about a runway! The definition of a landing stage, according to the Cambridge English Dictionary is “a flat structure, often wooden and floating, that acts as a bridge with the land when taking goods on or off boats or ships.” When Number 2 departed The Village for the homeland at the and of ‘Free For All,’ it was just a quick flip to the landing stage where  I always imagined him picking up a boat or ship to take him back to the homeland from there. What’s more it works the other way around, Number 2 arriving at the landing stage by boat, and then it’s just a quick flip in the helicopter to The Village. A bit slow by boat though, seeing the turn over of Number 2s, its no wonder that perhaps from time to time Number 1 had to promote someone from administration to the position of Number 2! And the course any departing Number 2 would eventually have taken is a north-easterly one, but at a speed greater than the three and a half knots Number 6’s raft attained. M.S. Polotska for example would have had a speed of 16.128 knots, although slower than most motor yachts of her class. I did attempt to calculate how long it would have taken for M.S. Polotska for example to cruise from The Village to Dover. But my mathematics was clearly not up to it, also there was no way I could gauge wind, tide, and currents. And yet it is clear at a speed of 16.128 knots the journey would have taken far less than the 25 days it took Number 6!
   How do we know that at the end of ‘Free For All’ Number 2 was heading back to England, that England is the homeland the new Number 2 asked her predecessor to give her regards to? We don’t. We don’t even know if The Village is run by British Intelligence department of the Foreign Office, we only assume that it is. And yet Cobb was dressed for the homeland of Britain when he was about to exit The Village, dressed in bowler hat and business suit. Also the last we see of the “late” Number 2 of Chimes, OUAT, and Fall Out he too is dressed in bowler hat and business suit, heading into the Houses of Parliament through the Peers entrance. Yes the former Number 2 eventually arrived back in the homeland overland, and over the English Channel by ferry. But Cobb would also have enjoyed a quick flip to the landing stage, and from there a nice little sea voyage back to England, and an eventual interview with his new masters!

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