Kentish Town Road, 8th January 2012

Well, you go all the way to Amsterdam, and then see an orange balloon on your doorstep a week later...

Herengracht, from Thorbeckeplein, Amsterdam, 1st January 2012

I was in Amsterdam again seeing dear friends for new year, these were spotted in a new year's day daze, wandering dumbstruck through the streets amidst the detritus of the night before. A few years ago I arrived unknowing on Queen's Day and was agog at the carnage. On new year's eve it was the fireworks that astonished and shocked. All on the streets seemed to have them: bangers everywhere, and irregularly but frequently the chatter of loud explosions was shattered by a deep and resonant boom that shook windows, set off car alarms and scattered nearby revellers. By new year's day, the streets were strewn with their red wrappings and the charred fat tubes of the more substantial.

The colour of these matches the boat's covering, which is a charming coincidence and rare, as Amsterdam for me has been a city of orange balloons.