Bishopsgate, from 35 bus, 24th December 2008

A rare foray into east London, which is evidently as littered with escapes this season as the south, west and central parts. I've spent a couple of nights at Dirty Dick's, and a fine old City boozer it is too, but this time I was simply passing, sat glassy-eyed on the bus having spent a blurry night on a friend's sofa. We were sat stationary at traffic lights for this shot, which is just as well as had we been cruising past I doubt my dulled morning reactions would have allowed their capture.

Northcote Road, 14th December 2008

The glut continues... a multicoloured cluster snagged in lights on a very grey day. I think this cluster actually adds to the decorations, a fetching statement at the apex of the lines of light.

High Street Kensington, 11th December 2008

Good grief, when will it end?! It was never like this in Christmases 2005-2007. Maybe balloons are having their golden year. So popular that people lose them without a care, and London's street trees end up festooned with ersatz rubber versions of the indoor trees' glass baubles. How many more before the year ends..?

Edgware Road, from 36 bus, 9th December 2008

And more! A red pair snared in bare branches, tied and trapped together and still just inflated enough to lend a festive feel to a grubby scene. That festive feel is fated to end before the festive season itself, of course, and my daily view of them on my commute will afford me a clear and sorry view of their slow demise.

Acre Lane, 6th December 2008

But the day wasn't over - I left town dizzy with excess and glad to be away from the teeming hordes and back in the relative quiet of home, when I spotted this pale ghost of a balloon trapped in the branches of a tree near my house.

This sighting did at least provide an element of realism to the day, a more familiar feel after the madness detailed below. I don't have many night shots, so this is a rarity in its own right, which makes it all the more pleasing. Back to reality, then. Eight in one day and several more that eluded me... but who knows how long until the next one?

Around Oxford Street/Regent Street, 6th December 2008

It was a day of balloons. They were everywhere. I missed a few and didn't care. By the end I was so ballooned out that I wondered if I could ever take another one again - I mean, what could compare? The fleeting and scarce glimpses that have been my sustenance over the past three and a half years have been rendered farcical by today's glut.

It started like any other day. A red escape, the top one, flying low over sunlit buildings in central London, snapped happy as a rare treat. But it was a mere taste of things to come, an amuse l'oeil before the feast of sightings. The roads were closed and pedestrianised to entice out credit-crunched shoppers, and balloons had been pressed into their usual decorative service. The UK must now be in the grip of a helium shortage. So many festooned streets and shops that I suppose countless escapes were inevitable. I wonder how far they flew, on the icy wind?

So my memory is hazed by weight of numbers, and these are lumped together for convenience. 6th December 2008: Balloon Day.

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.