Off Kentish Town Road, 9th July 2015

So I didn't see a tenth anniversary balloon, although I did head back to the exact spot on the day, for old time's sake. Not that that was a particularly dramatic pilgrimage, it's not even 3km from my flat and it was a beautiful sunny walk. Instead six days later I saw this half-deflated blue bobbing against a kerb in the less picturesque surroundings of the Sainsbury's car park in Camden. Well, they all count. 

Harrow Road, 16th June 2015

More than a year since the last upload, this may have remained becalmed on my phone along with numerous others were it not for Sabrina and Leonardo. It's always charmed me when random people find amusement in this small corner of whimsy, and there's no denying it encourages more posting. So this purple rolled along at the right time, as I was shopping after work. It was a bright busy evening so it's surprising the shot is a dirty grey and slightly blurred. Alas.

It's not far off ten years since the first balloon in thistles on Hampstead Heath. I'll have that unlikely anniversary in mind for the next few days. 

Morden Hall Park, 13th June 2014

It's been so long I forgot the controls. There have been balloons in the past 18 months, dozens have flown away or rolled past on dirty streets: some missed, some snapped and unposted, a couple even ignored, and all of course doomed. But perhaps none so joyfully, wilfully doomed as these. The dog is called Flop, who at the time of the last entry had just started a very different life of meadows, Morden Hall Park and my friend with a fine memory. Flop got a good break then. 18 months on, the balloons of South-West London have a new foe.

I'm very grateful for the reminder, especially such a cheery high-energy summery reminder as this. I doubt the gritty balloons in gutters in passing will raise such a smile as this did, but they'll remind me of this for a while now, which is wonderful.

Stockwell Road, 1st January 2013

Only a couple of hours into 2013, a rolling white on a wet street, which I'd completely forgotten until I went through the inevitable new year's eve photos the next day. Accursed memory loss... Whether 2013 will bring more frequent updates I don't know, but I imagine from the number of shots I took that this free balloon that it brought fair joy at the time. Ahh. Happy new year!  

By South Wimbledon Tube Station, 14th November 2012

A rare gift near a dear friend's new flat, this enlivened a grey autumn but still failed to prompt me to upload it until now. For shame. 

Off Independence Avenue SW, Washington DC, USA, 12th October 2012

A long way from home, this. We'd just arrived in DC and had toured various well-lit monuments and were walking back to the car when this rolled out of the shadows on a sports field. Bonus!

Off West End Lane, 6th October 2012

And a few hours later, another. If the wind had been blowing west I'd have entertained the thought it might have been the same one seen airborne earlier, but the wind is no respecter of romanticism. More likely it was a blue balloon promotion day somewhere.

From Kentish Town Road, 6th October 2012

So it's been a while, and it'd been a while then too. This shot up from the other side of an unusually sunny street at the end of a wet summer, and was a blue dot by the time I'd met it with a camera. Still, they all count...

Off the A4074, 2nd September 2012

So where on Earth is this? This is a very random stretch of road somewhere between Oxford and its Kassam Stadium, and I had been dropped "near" the latter by a cabbie who wisely advised us he should go no further. He was right - the traffic on the approach to the stadium was nose to tail and at snail's pace, and we beat the drivers hands down. It was the first match of a new season in rugby's Premiership, and we'd trekked out of London to see Leicester play London Welsh. The latter are the new boys, playing here for the first time, and I was supporting them as I'm from London, and, well, I'm half Welsh. My companions are from Leicester, support Leicester to an extent that makes a mockery of my newfound affiliation, and would bleed green, white and red if you cut them (not that I've tried). 

I'm not a great believer in omens, so the sight of a balloon in proud Welsh red (I can type goch better than I can say it) didn't fill me with thoughts of an upset. And so it transpired - a lacklustre Leicester duly trounced the exiles, and we departed two-thirds happy. On the plus side, we magicked upon a taxi immediately on leaving, which had us back in the city centre in seconds. Oxford has been kind to me before with balloons, and so it remains.

From Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago, 25th August 2012

I was sent this beautiful group by Luna, who released the yellow one closest here. It is always a joy to receive them from afar, and these tell a story:

"The balloons are released to honour and celebrate the lives babies lost through miscarriage or just after birth. Each balloon represented a baby. This year's emotionally charged but beautiful event was held on the rooftop of an eight storey building with a gorgeous view of our capital city and the Caribbean Sea beyond. It was a cloudy, windy and warm evening. After a short ceremony and prayer our balloons were let go. Within moments they were tiny blue, pink, green, orange and yellow dots against the clouds. We all faced the west. Toward the sun which was now peeking out from behind the white cumulus clouds as our balloons carried our emotions away. A high flying flock of birds seemed to chase after our balloons and I imagined them as guardian angels guiding our little ones, and us, to peace."

Which is quite humbling compared to the discarded ones I sporadically see on the streets. Thank you!

Off West End Lane, 22nd July 2012

So it'd been a while... I'd seen balloons in this estate before, a couple of years back while crashing in a friend's spare room up the road. I was heading back there for a BBQ this day, and was cheered to see an orange imprisoned in the gardens beyond the fence. Oh the memories...

Mare Street, 2nd June 2012

Wandering round an unfamiliar area on my way to the Field Day festival in a nearby park, I spotted this caged behind railings just off the bustling street. It was certainly safer there.

York Bridge, 30th May 2012

It was one of the few sunny days in a very wet spring, so I was walking home in an attempt to feel summeryer. As I entered Regent's Park I saw this in the middle of the road, and nipped out to check if it was still inflated. My gentle toe prod knocked it into the gutter, which at least allowed me to snap it from the safety of the pavement, and get the sunlit Regency buildings in the background. There's been a few gutter balloons recently, which is heartening. A few more days like this would be very welcome too...

Gaisford Street, 19th May 2012

It was  a day of sport, curled up on the sofa after an inexplicable bout of illness. The sport, at least, provided welcome relief. I popped out to pick up a very fine curry, and saw this sat limp in the gutter. It hadn't moved by the time I returned with my bounty.

High Holborn, 1st May 2012

On a sunny wander unusually eastward I came across this on a busy afternoon street. It rolled and bounced past the ambulance until a small boy kicked it once before popping it in front of me.

Harrow Road, from 18 bus, 26th April 2012

So I'm a bit overdue on uploads... this was now so long ago I scarcely remember it, but fortunately the street sign gives a subtle clue... It looks like a Domino's Pizza balloon, although where the nearest one to here is I don't know...

Kentish Town Road, 23rd April 2012

The cold wet April continues, good for drought-stricken gardens but the opposite for the city's spirits. It hasn't put off the spring ballooners though - this was rolling riskily down the main road at rush hour, but it weaved between cars until I got a clear shot. The black car at right here then rolled right over it, and still it emerged unscathed. Good luck to it.

Belsize Road, 14th April 2012

An altogether different shot in another part of town, later the same day. We were just settling down at a fine new local when I noticed this rolling around outside, and bowled out to capture it. Late and night and shaky of hand it was never going to be the clearest shot, but this is at least a reasonable representation of how it looked and felt at the time. Masterly cocktails saw the evening off perfectly.