Charles Street, Leicester, 25th October 2009

The first dusk back in GMT, a premature flash in an unknown street on an unplanned and uncommonly fine weekend. As we approached the balloon there was the sharp ting of fast-falling shrapnel nearby and a whoop of near miss from above. My stoop to shoot at least ceased the aimed rain, but not for too long - as we walked on my explanation was punctuated by a pop, its demise prompting happy victorious cries. But I left the scene, and the city, the happier.

Park Lane, 11th October 2009

This was stranded on the grassy central reservation of one of London's fiercer roads to cross, and I hadn't seen it when I began my dash across the lanes. Happily it was right in front of me as I picked my way over the low barriers. It was only a brief gap in the traffic that led to me crossing here, a hundred metres from the bus stop that was my destination, so I count this as a very lucky spot.

The lawn between the twin three-lane highways is hardly crossed, so without wind and weighed down by a burst red on the same ribbon, this could last longer than some. I have no plans to pass by in the next few days though, so I'll never know.