Burlington Gardens, 13th February 2008

Spotted while leaving Secret Cinema at the On/Off thing, which that night was festooned with balloons and dancing and costumes. Given the performance it was hardly surprising to see a ribboned and pastel escape on our exit, but on the way in, as the event name implies, we had no idea what we were about to see. It turned out to be "Funny Face", a film of such anachronistic naivety that it felt like an Attenborough-esque study of the lives of another species. S'unpredictable, this life...

Brighton beach, 10th February 2008

Out of all the balloons I've caught over the last 2.5 years plus, this is my favourite so far, and I think I'll do well to beat it. The sunset was incredible, neon red silhouetting the gutted pier, the wheeling starlings just visible at left, the lazy viscous waves... a snapshot scarcely does the scene justice. The balloon, green although the camera doesn't betray that in this light, was ripped furiously from left to right by the wind and waves, so much so that a minute before I was about to leap down from the concrete groyne to the beach to attempt to snap it in the surf. I'm glad I didn't. It shot past the end of my perch so quickly I had only a few seconds to capture it before it was lost against the darkening waters.

It is doomed, as are all the others, but what a final journey.

Kennington Road, from 159 bus, 12th January 2008

A pink pair tied together and surviving at a bus stop, the first sighting(s) of the new year. This was a shot against the clock, hastily fumbling to reach my phone before the bus pulled away. They were captured just in time - the shutter clicked as the bus growled back into action, and if the photo hadn't have come out they would have been missed. It hasn't escaped my notice that it's actually a better photo than some of the ones I've been able to compose and shoot unpressured by time (such as Bedford Road below). Bah...

Bedford Road, 27th December 2007

Rolling around with its stalk the radius of the arcs. I was venturing into town for a bit of post-Christmas shopping... needless to say there was no sign of the balloon, or its stalk, when I returned.

James Street, Covent Garden, 22nd December 2007

Only idiocy and procrastination could drive me to central London on the last Saturday before Christmas, and Covent Garden was predictably teeming with shoppers. So prevalent were balloons amongst the other decorations of the season that it was almost a surprise that this was the only escape I saw, trapped in the fairy-lit branches of a tree above the hordes.

Brixton Road, 23rd November 2007

A small and deflated red one that had somehow run the gauntlet of the commuting crowds tramping to the stations. I doubt it lasted until they returned.

Regent Street, from 88 bus, 17th November 2007

As if the balloon-like shapes of the Regent Street Christmas decorations weren't enough, a clutch of genuine balloons had risen from the street to get ensnared by the decoration's support wire, where they hung like a bleak, if multicoloured, parody of the illuminated spheres.

Off Acre Lane, 7th October 2007

Oh my god, the mother lode! Evidently party survivors, I hadn't noticed them but a friend pointed them out after the front garden one below reminded her of the collection. Protected from street and residents (there are no front gardens at these flats) these could last a while. Even if not, these many-coloured escapes made my day, and it would have been a great day anyway.

Glenelg Road, 7th October 2007

In my own front garden. I initially though it was burst, and thus dead rather than doomed, but a quick squeeze revealed that it was in fact still entire, if almost totally deflated.

From The White Horse, Brixton Hill, 11th August 2007

Unusually, this one was just floating sideways up the hill, neither rising nor falling as it followed the road Streathamwards. The patio outside was heaving even in these early hours of Saturday morning, but the balloon passed without most noticing or caring. Although I must have looked somewhat odd holding my phone skywards at night, the action received as little attention as the balloon that prompted it.

From Rupert Street, 21st July 2007

An escape spotted flying high over the buildings in the very centre of London, immediately before a decent Malaysian meal at the nearby C & R restaurant.

Glenelg Road, 15th July 2007

And another, one that survived the night, although its deflation looks almost complete.

Glenelg Road, 14th July 2007

Our next door neighbours had covered their garden in balloons, likely for a child's party, and these must have been escapes. The day was punctuated at irregular intervals by their sudden and explosive pops.

From Gabriel's Wharf, 8th July 2007

The South Bank was in party mood, for the cloud-heavy backdrop to this last flight is misleading - it had been a sunny day and a sunny weekend, the first for a while. Plenty of people out, ice cream, children, street artists and many attendant balloons. I think this was a Giraffe one; the cafe/restaurant had some kind of promotion on, and had printed hundreds of orange balloons to give to wide-eyed toddlers. Not all could hold on.

Grand Union Canal, from Grand Union pub, , 4th July 2007

Another coincidence - not twenty minutes after seeing the one below, this one appeared. The coincidences ended there though; no red-garbed cyclist came past to raise eyebrows further.

Grand Union Canal, from Grand Union pub, 4th July 2007

Lovely pub garden, lousy view. This yellow brightened the grey and brick scene on a grey day. The cyclist, adding his own yellow, was a pure coincidence.

Old Home Farm, East Sussex, 1st July 2007

My birthday, although the balloon-festooned party the night before, from which this was an escape, was totally unrelated to that. It made it through the night in the pondside reed beds, but when I returned before leaving it had gone.

Clapham Common, 28th April 2007

It had been a hectic and chaotic day, but a few drinks in the afternoon sun overlooking the Common helped to relax us. We were wandering across the Common to the bus stop to head off in search of food when I spotted this one, a relic of the teeming crowds that had filled the Common until the Sun dipped below the fringing buildings.