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.

La Rochelle harbour, from Quai Louis Durand, France, 12th October 2011

Always nice to see them away from London. These two were floating in a channel of the harbour, to which it's connected by the large doors behind. The light was just fading so this was a stroke of luck, as they all are. Although these were seen over a month ago, there's been nothing since. I've missed chances though. London is getting darker every day, which doesn't make it easier to spot them. I hope for a change of fortunes soon...

Regents Canal, Camden, 20th July 2011

A rare gift and a rarer grey, although the canals are proving productive recently. Although this is less than a mile from my flat, and was taken by one I see as much as realistically possible, I wasn't there to take it myself. I'm delighted by the consideration, as ever.

Regents Canal, from Kentish Town Road, 17th July 2011

I didn't even notice this small deflated example at first, I was admiring the streaks of algae in the canal by the lock. So it was a bonus one really, and yet another example of a canal-bound blue. What is it about the canals that attracts blue balloons..?

Grand Union Canal, 2nd May 2011

A second that day, and a third in a canal in a row. This wasn't far from the last, a short walk down the Paddington Basin arm of the canal. Oddly, Google Maps doesn't appear to show that arm on its map, although it's plainly visible on the satellite view, so it'll look a trifle odd when the map next to this floating example shows nothing but dry land.

Little Venice, 2nd May 2011

It may not look afloat, but that is water there beneath it, albeit water completely covered in dead cherry blossom and fallen leaves. Little Venice was hosting a canal cavalcade this day, which was a riot of old-school whimsy aimed mainly at children, and the balloon wasn't out of place alongside bunting, Punch & Judy and some energetic elderly Morris dancers. The ale tent was more my speed, before the amble continued.

Regent's Canal, off Regent's Park, 11th April 2011

Not the most tumescent balloon, but at least it was floating on a fetching smear of colours. It was another sunny afternoon in a glorious April, but the clouds grew as the day passed, from small puffy heaps to looming grey towers, and the rain inevitably followed. Stormy summer rain though, not the featureless sweeps of drizzle that sap the soul.

Regent's Canal, west of Islington Tunnel, 27th February 2011

Another waterbound blue, the other side of the tunnel, about the same distance from the exit as the previous was from the entrance (the way we were headed anyway). You can't walk through the tunnel - perhaps it was literally strewn with blue balloons and I saw just the outliers.

Regent's Canal, east of Islington Tunnel, 27th February 2011

Another Sunday, another stroll, another balloon floating in a waterway... this was adorned with white 5s so I guess some child of 2006 enjoyed it in its pomp. Trapped between barge and quay and matching the former with flair, I enjoyed it too.

River Thames, from Thames Path near Charlton, 20th February 2011

A fittingly grey scene for the last of the eastward mosey. We were headed for the Thames Barrier, which spans the river between silvered pods that looked futuristic in the 80s just to the right of this shot. No angle for inclusion presented itself, though, so the drab block on the other bank has to suffice.

Four in one day is pretty rare, but I don't often venture to this side of town, so perhaps it's not too unusual round here. The prevailing wind would certainly dump the city's free balloons this way, as would the ebbing tide. That could explain the glut, or it could just have been pure chance. Next time I come this way I'll have a better idea.

River Thames, from Thames Path near Greenwich, 20th February 2011

It's all true. The marketing people at Gap took one look at the site visits for this blog, then drove a truckload of money up to my flat, with the balloon. "Put it where you want, just make sure you can see the logo", they said, scooping great wads of £50 notes into a sack on my doorstep.

Not really, they'll never know or care. Anyway, it's either an old or a very new balloon: they changed their logo at great expense over the new year, but hadn't realised that so many people loved the old one (or hated the new), and reverted back to this at doubtless substantial cost a week later. I imagine balloons printed with the short-lived replacement logo will fetch a tidy sum from short-lived logo balloon collectors in a few years.

River Thames, by Greenwich Pier, 20th February 2011

And there's the next easternmost. I've never known pea green be the colour of lovers, apart from the Owl & The Pussycat, so unlike the last I suspect this is a random. It was a very grey day and even this small splash of colour was a rare treat, so I waited a short while to see if it would drift any closer to complement the algae-stained walls. Alas it remained obstinately distant while my friends got more distant themselves, so I contented myself with a wide shot of the monumental buildings of the Royal Naval College (which, I found while looking up what they are, is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage Site - my my).

River Thames, near Royal Windsor Racecourse, 29th August 2010

My own first for a while, having lived on unexpected generosity for weeks. This was not as far from home as the last, but a different world nonetheless - snapped departing a lock on a bank holiday weekend pootle down the river on an old schoolfriend's family's riverboat. We were heading back at this stage, having passed through the same lock far more sober and with a functional boat some hours previously. In the inter-lock time it broke down mid-stream while under my erratic and uncontrolled charge, and had to be towed from its ersatz mooring to a riverside willow to a real berth, before we could coax its hot engine home.

The sun shone on our lunch, our repairs and this photo. In between each, it poured cold and hard.

Shoreham Canal, 17th July 2010

I received this by phone while I was many miles from Shoreham, which is always a joy. Several people have sent balloons in over the past few years, but this is the first from my mother. She must be very proud.

River Thames, from Hungerford footbridge, 11th July 2010

The tide must have been racing in, as this yellow was moving west against a pretty stiff breeze blowing the other way. The bridge was crowded and I was far from alone in snapping, but most of the other photographers were shooting downwind, one of the best views in central London. This side has tracks and metalwork and a silty shaded river beneath, which would be unremarkable but for the balloon.

River Thames, from Waterloo Bridge, 16th May 2010

I spotted this one from a bus on a painfully slow journey north from visiting friends in the far-flung south-east of London, and having failed to snap it from the top deck, hopped off at the next stop in the hope it would still be there. The current wasn't strong and the wind wasn't either, so it was. I had the luxury of a few shots as it moved erratically eastwards near the northern shore, but the ducks and boat made this my favourite.

Grand Union Canal, 21st November 2009

These two look allied here, but they behaved very differently. The white one idled despite the gale, staying stationary relative to the leaves, while the blue scudded one way and another, away with the wind then against it as fast. Baffled by this behaviour we watched a while longer, curiosity piqued.

The only explanation we could think of was that the blue balloon's dangling underwater string was caught in the mouth of a canal-dwelling fish, whose erratic movements dragged it about like a diver drags a marker buoy. To test this theory we scrabbled around the pavements and verges of the canalside path looking for pebbles to throw into the water. The first was encouraging - it landed by the balloon, which then sped away as a spooked fish would do. Fired with enthusiasm we threw more, but the second was less convincing - the balloon didn't rush off at all. The third was the same, and both balloons were then whipped along by the wild wind alone. Pleasantly baffled I captured the scene, before we left for the shelter of a nearby pub.

Amstel, Amsterdam, 8th November 2009

Amsterdam was always going to draw me back, with its charming combination of canals and happy confusion. There was a glut of celebratory balloons during Queen's Day back in the warm spring, but I wasn't expecting the trend to continue with the city mired in the clammy cold air of the North Sea autumn. Happily, though, my lack of faith was misplaced.

Orange again, hardly a surprise, and floating down one of the larger canals. So baffling is the mesh of roads, canals and bridges that any sighting in this city is hard to site on the map, but vague and hazy memory was here helped by the website of the restaurant in the background. We didn't eat in Zushi, but I was grateful to it nonetheless.

From Ladbroke Grove, 16th June 2009

The Grand Union Canal has been a prolific bearer of balloons over the years, but this is my first on this stretch. After May's move I quickly found that Maida Vale is oddly bereft of supermarkets, so was testing the hike up to the vast Sainsbury's close to this bridge. It's a fair way for groceries and domestic essentials, but man cannot live on imported olives and patisserie fare alone.

I tinkered with this one for quite a while, trying to balance the areas of bright and dark to best show both the sunlit buildings and the family of Canada geese in the bottom right corner. Defeated by a recalcitrant histogram, I was forced to settle for the former.

Somewhere in Amsterdam, 1st May 2009

And this one, well, it could have been anywhere. Somewhere on a dizzy, dazed and delightful amble through the city we stumbled across another, floating free in one of the myriad canals. There's no point even placing a vague marker on the map for this, so Amsterdam will have to make do with two markers for now, and only one of those accurate. I hope to add to that set before very long.