George Street, Oxford, 19th April 2009

So it was getting more surprising by now - there haven't been many hat tricks, and to see three balloons in a couple of hours is a rare thing indeed. Only that ludicrous day in London matches this, then, and that was a festive retail party around the country's busiest shopping street, not a shires town on a Sunday afternoon.

I'd been thinking that London must be covered in balloons for me to see them so often. Perhaps it's not just London, perhaps it's the whole country? How many balloons are out there?