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And yet another Giraffe balloon... Given the prevailing wind in this city, an area northeastish of here must be literally littered with their tattered skins. How far northeast this hub lies I have no idea - how far does a modest helium balloon drift before it sinks and falls? Perhaps there's a undiscovered field of orange tatters that spooks the bears in Novaya Zemlya. Perhaps it's a stealth marketing campaign by Giraffe Norway. Actually, I suspect it's more likely Stratfordish that's so strewn.
Red and yellow together again, but these are a gift, so better:
"The balloons were outside the Orange shop on Streatham High Road. I was out at lunch and much to the bemusement of fellow shoppers taking pictures of balloons on the pavement."
From the one who was there at the beginning. It almost makes 63 months seem a short time. Thanks! I love the fact you still think about this.
A stand-off, this. I don't think the dog cared much for the balloon, and was just happy guarding his shop, but the boy clearly cared very much for it. His desire for a plaything was evidently tempered by his nervousness about the substantial hound before him, though, and so they stood still, facing each other like duellists.
We were just passing through on our way to eat, so I didn't see the resolution. We returned to the square to drink later, in the warm night air, but the shop was shut, the dog gone, the boy likely in bed and of the balloon there was no trace.
Initially I only saw the yellow one, which was rolling and bouncing up the busy street as I was buying meat. I dipped out of the shop to snap it from across the street, thinking it would be short-lived. That was not the case, and it dodged the oblivious or obliging crowds and made its way northwards as I followed, meat in one hand, camera in the other.
And at the top of the road there was the red, rolling independently in traffic and autumn rain. I hurriedly captured that too, as it looked even more precarious amongst the cars, but gusts and the wakes of the vehicles combined to see them briefly together, close enough for a close shot, which, by even greater coincidence, contained complementary-coloured post bags and road markings. Some you win... As I left the scene smiling the yellow remained, but the red succumbed at last to a car.
And yet another Giraffe balloon... 
