Camden High Street, 23rd June 2010

A rather pleasing colour arrangement on a rather tatty stretch of road, spotted on a new commute home. Oddly the balloon had a small pair of nubs, so when inflated it may have looked like a blue Mickey, but half-full and flaccid it more resembled some sort of sorry udder.

West End Lane, 11th June 2010

Make that four in four! I was leaving for work when I saw this, and rushed to snap it before its doom came under the wheels of a truck. But it had a reprieve - it passed right under it and the car behind, and was still rolling about when I got on the bus.

After the patriotic red below I was half-expecting a glut of World Cup balloons, and this was the first day of the tournament. But I couldn't think of a side whose colours are pale blue, I'd certainly not seen any flags in that colour, so I considered this just a random.

Off West End Lane, 10th June 2010

Three in three days, a rare thing. I'd seen this one before but in red and next to a World Cup-inspired flag I took it for part of the decoration. When I passed a second time, though, it had blown clear of them, and was rolling about on the lawn alone. It won't still be there, I'm sure, when the national team's doom comes and the flags are taken in in sorrow.

Off Carlton Vale, 9th June 2010

I wasn't expecting to get this. I spotted it from a car on the way home from work, a rare lift from my workmate and temporary landlady. I mentioned it with glee tinged with resignation as we swept past on the roundabout, but she indulged me, bless her, and pulled over nearby, allowing me to run back and snap it before we continued home.

You know who your friends are when they stop cars for balloons, but I knew she was long before that. She's not to be a landlady for much longer though, as a flat seen a few hours earlier passed muster. I wonder how Kentish Town will fare for balloons.

Abbey Road, 8th June 2010

A pretty sorry example in the midst of some roadworks. I was meant to be speeding past this spot on a bus, but more significant roadworks on West End Lane had led to an ugly tailback all the way to here and beyond, so I'd just left the bus in frustration to continue on foot. The jam was threatening to make me late for a viewing on a flat in West Hampstead. Walking, I beat the bus and made it. I didn't take the flat though - the agent's description was a bald and shameful lie: the "private garden" was shared. Grr...