Haydon's Road, 24th December 2010

A fleeting glimpse, this, although in the heavy traffic fleeing London for Christmas, "fleeting" is less frantic than the word usually implies. We still had to slow to ease the shot, though, a backwards twist from a side window and a wild snap as we departed.

Trinity Square, Toronto, 23rd December 2010

I was home in London on this day, but Luna was far further from hers, snowbound but still snapping in the cold north of the western hemisphere. Thanks again! This is much more what I had in mind when I craved snowbound balloons, so it's a pleasure to add it to my own gritty ditch in the winter's haul. This is how it happened:

"I'm here until the 5th of January with my Dad visiting his brother who had a bad fall. Today I went exploring on my own, something that is not such a safe thing to do in Trinidad, so understandably my Dad was worried. But with the understanding that Toronto is fairly safe, I set out to find Trinity Square to walk the Labyrinth. I found it easily enough and as I was halfway through the labyrinth, the wind picked up and within a whirlwind of brown leaves was a blue balloon! I had to re-focus and concentrate on finishing the labyrinth, thinking of my Uncle and sending positive energy to him. Then I ran (well, gingerly stepped) across the snowy walk, to find the balloon. There he was, a bit deflated but ready for his close up."

That's some good ginger stepping. Thanks again, hope your uncle's on the mend!

Borough Market, 22nd December 2010

The snow still clagged pavement edges and the parts less trodden, but it had been trampled away elsewhere, and Borough Market could never be described as one of London's less trodden areas. These three were snagged in one of the market's metal arches when I arrived at a favourite pub, and I had ignored them for that. But despite the chill air I was waiting outside for a friend, it being too crowded inside to make meeting easy, and as I watched one of the bitter gusts unsnagged them and they drifted still bound to the ground.

The truck in the background was collecting rubbish, and I trotted over pint in hand in haste fearing they'd take these too. But bins were emptied and these ignored, so I snapped at my leisure, pausing only once to permit a perplexed pedestrian past.

Leighton Road, 19th December 2010

Be careful what you wish for... when I talked below of balloons in snow I envisaged a far different scene to this, but it was still a joy to see it. Winter had set in cold and hard, and the weekend had seen prodigious snowfall that all but paralysed the roads and rails, even in London. By this time the main roads were clearer though, their snow reduced to dirty slush piled deep beside kerbs and in gutters. I was returning home from a fruitless eleventh-hour dash central for presents, which was rescued by a warming and convivial couple of pints, and this frozen yellow warmed me even more.

Off Elgin Avenue, 10th December 2010

A rather grubby urban shot this, in the same pub car park as one I still hold up as the grubbiest. It's been a long wait for one of my own, after two gifts, and one sooner would have probably meant a prettier scene too: the last two weeks has seen London's leaf-strewn tarmac alternately wearing a layer of snow or a sparkling, brutal frost. I've never snapped a snowbound balloon despite the last few years bringing surprising settlage, and I was hoping the latest cold snap would end that sequence. It still might, of course - there's a lot more winter to come.