St John's Road, 29th November 2008

This metallic blue was tumbling southwards in a cold wet wind on a cold wet afternoon. I crossed the road to capture it close up, attempting and failing to avoid the teeming shoppers. It didn't move fast and neither did I, so I had a while to snap away, but this was the best of the shots. I left the scene happy and quickly, with no inclination to wait and see its imminent and inevitable demise.

Harrow Road, from 36 bus, 19th November 2008

This multicoloured cluster was first spotted two days earlier, but the bus had whisked me past before I could reach for my phone. They weren't going to get away though - they're on my daily commute, and I've been able to watch these balloons for the last few days, and will hopefully see them until they hang flaccid and dulled by dirt in the weeks to come.

Knowing they're there does detract slightly from the spontaneous thrill usually associated with a sighting, but on the plus side it does mean I can compose the shot with a bit more intent than usual. So I'm glad I quite like this as a photo as well - the motley globes look pleasingly incongruous against the boxy regularity of the flats.

From Trafalgar Square, 19th October 2008

There were Diwali celebrations in Trafalgar Square, but whether this red escape was related I don't know. It drifted low over St Martin's as Indian dancers gyrated on stage and paper lotus flowers floated around in the fountains. It was not as grey a day as this photo implies, a rare eight-okta moment on another gorgeous autumn afternoon.

River Thames, from 452 bus on Chelsea Bridge, 13th October 2008

This yellow balloon was sitting high in the water, and remained pretty static on the surface on a pleasant autumn morning. The tide would have been racing in at this time, two hours after low water, but it didn't seem to move. I ruled out it being a ball as it wasn't quite round, although I did wonder if it could have been a buoy. But I cross this stretch of river every day and have never seen any buoys there, nor was it being obviously tugged as one would expect if it had been moored. Maybe London's ubiquitous westerlies were counteracting the tide and keeping it in place?

Whatever the case, it was dark when the same bus brought me southwards and home, and although I scrutinised the dark yet reflection-lit water for any sign of it, there was none. If it's there when I cross tomorrow morning, or I spy a host of bright buoys on every subsequent crossing, this entry will be short-lived. But it looked like a balloon to me.

Grand Union Canal, from Great Western Road, 23rd September 2008

This sorry purple pair represents the first balloon shot I've taken in London for a while, although there had been several sightings in that time. My fumbled attempts to capture those had failed as either I was swept away by my bus, or the balloons were swept away by the wind. There was no risk of that for these two, becalmed in the idle, turbid canal on a grey day.

Fade Street, Dublin, 28th August 2008

I wasn't planning on being in Dublin this night, but plans have never been my strong point. A happy accident, then - a decent meal, a good bunch at a cool bar, and from its window a languid, rolling white balloon. It didn't last long, of course - by the time we left it was a loose and tattered shred.

Around Farringdon, late August 2008

And the second... whoever's taking these has admirable powers of observation (to say nothing of his/her better eye for a photo). Given the archly potted plants on this windowsill I wonder if the balloon here is a deliberate feature. If not, maybe the owners should consider it as a permanent option, as it contrasts that spiky green foliage nicely...

Around Angel, late August 2008

And another from the bananaman/woman, the first of two in one email - cheers! Oddly I'd just snapped two stray skins and sent them the other way, which although blurred and dim at least assuaged my faint guilt about my previous lack of response.

Near Blackfriars, late July 2008

Well here's something. This one was snapped and sent to me by the brains behind the London Banana Project. I heard about the site on Londonist (which I'd heartily recommend for London news and views), and, staggered that anyone else could consider photographing urban detritus a fulfilling hobby, dropped him (I incorrectly assumed at the time of writing) a line. I promised bananas. She promised balloons. She beat me to it. Reciprocation is only a banana skin away, happily. The search continues...

Pisa Airport, 8th July 2008

The UK does not have a monopoly on doomed balloons, of course. This purple one rolled and bounced along in a brisk warm breeze, a breeze that was a very welcome welcome to Italy.

From the Princess of Wales, Chalcot Road, 5th July 2008

Sat in the sun for a friend's birthday, a veritable succession of balloons drifted overhead. This green one was about the fourth to pass by, but the only one I managed to capture. In all there must have been half a dozen, which points to a common source. Needless to say, I will never know what that source was.

Pembridge Road, from 328 bus, 19th June 2008

This is about as close as it gets, a mad fumble for my phone as a blue balloon bounced across the mini roundabout into the path of a bus. You can just see it under the bumper. Predictably, when it emerged, it had been reduced to a tattered slip of rubber.

From Wembley Stadium, 7th June 2008

Well well, the second entry not taken by me, instead being snapped above the Foo Fighters' gig by one of the half-dozen or so Other People who knows about this: in this case, the very woman I was with for the first two, back on 3rd July 2005.

Love the shot too, a fleeting trefoil between giant arcs in sunlight and shadow. Cheers!

Acre Lane, 17th May 2008

Not 300 metres west of the pair below, I found this one trapped under a car. It was a damp grey and uninspiring day, and we'd been running around London taking photographs for a ShootExperience event. Our ten submissions were slightly laboured this time, and these two balloon snaps raised more of a smile than they did.

Acre Lane, 17th May 2008

This mismatched pair had become corralled at the apex of the traffic island's railings. Such an enclosure looked protective, but when I walked past again 20 minutes later, they had both disappeared.

Pembridge Road, 29th April 2008

I love this, as it's the first one I've ever seen being lost. Two Notting Hill mothers wandered along the pavement, each wheeling a toddler clutching a balloon. As I watched, one child let his slip, and it was up and gone before he or his mother could react. Indeed as my hand shot to my pocket for my camera, I assumed that I'd have to scurry down the street and stand right next to the mewling infant, phone aloft, as I gleefully snapped the cause of his misery before it shrank into the distance. But happily not. Not only was the infant utterly nonplussed (and his mother doubtless relieved by the fact), but a fresh-leaved tree had snagged the very end of the balloon's ribbon, leaving it bobbing patiently against a grey sky.

So I snapped guiltlessly and unnoticed as the mothers moved on, their incident likely quickly forgotten over cappuccino and chat, never to know the tiny thrill it gave the man they just walked past.

On my homeward commute the balloon had gone.

A217, around Cheam, 27th April 2008

A pale balloon on a grey day. Rare to be in a car, but the Sunday traffic slowed us to the extent that I could hurriedly fumble for my phone.

Brixton Road, from 35 bus, 6th April 2008

This free turquoise bounced further in 30 seconds than the bus moved in ten minutes. A fire in Brixton had closed the main road, sending the buses a tortuous route round various one way systems accompanied by countless confused cars. The closure contributed to its longevity; it skipped unhassled up the normally hectic road and under the police tape, continuing its journey towards the flashing lights and gushing smoke free from traffic and crowds.