Monmouth Street, 29th January 2010

Back in central London for the second day in a row, I wandered between parties beneath these, yet more snagged in winter branches. The colours say "St Patrick's Day" but the celebrations have never started that early before. They were snagged outside a lively pub, so I suspect that was their source. I'll be surprised if the sighting's not repeated come 17th March.

Charing Cross Road, 28th January 2010

The theme of silhouetted branches continues, although reversed by the bright lights and only relatively dark skies of central London at night. Regardless of the illumination it does seem to have been a winter of snagged balloons, with none just rolling around pavements the last couple of months. Bring on the spring, then.

High Street, Leicester, 23rd January 2010

And another nigh on identical. This one, rather oddly, was joined in its tree by some clothing and sundry detritus.

New Walk, Leicester, 23rd January 2010

Two clusters in one tree, a novelty. Although that said, there seem to have been a lot of snagged balloons this winter, and the image of silhouetted branches feels familiar.

Belvedere Road, 14th January 2010

And more, spotted just a few metres from the ones below. At least these have a hint of hue about them, although their colour and the spidery silhouettes of the branches hardly do much to conceal the chill wintry feel.

From Belvedere Road, 14th January 2010

Another flat January shot, whose desaturated bleakness echoes one taken just over a year ago. Once again the colour seen in real life was lost en route to the camera's CCD, but one of these was red, believe me.

Incidentally, back then I noted Pantone's colour of the year was Mimosa. This year, they went the other way.

Harrow Road, from 36 bus, 11th January 2010

Heading back to work after a meeting, the photo reveals nothing of the weather conditions. In Oxford, where I'd been, there was still a good depth of snow off the roads and the pavements were white and icy. London, as usual, is warmer and greyer than its surrounds.

I've seen plenty of balloons around this area, which is a mystery to me, as it doesn't strike me as a balloon stretch of road. Shows how much I know.

Montpellier Street, Cheltenham, 22nd December 2009

It had been a week of bitterly cold weather but this sharp bright day was the last of the real freeze. Still, beneath these cold-shrivelled balloons the street was edged with dirty snow, and the pavements off the main roads were evilly slippery rinks. After the blizzards and fog the sky had a pure clean look, and its colours graded evenly down from the deep zenith blue to a peach horizon. The low yellow evening light gave false warmth to the buildings, and far far further above caught the thin arc of a dusk moon.

High Street Kensington, 19th December 2009

Shades of deja vu - last year at a similar time of year I'd seen a similar cluster in a similar tree on the same street. I prefer this shot though, largely thanks to the lights.

Vere Street, 13th December 2009

One of those windy evenings that flips between cold and clear and sweeping rain frequently and with little pattern. It was unfortunate that I came across this one during one of the wet episodes. Not wanting to dwell on this I took a couple and hurried on, although looking at the ugly blur of this I think I should have stayed longer in the rain.

Northdown Street, 8th December 2009

This pink star was snagged in a far corner of London outside the King Charles I pub, to which this was my first visit (it had a 12.1% stout and the mounted front half of a monitor lizard on the wall). It was a dark road on a slick night, and without a serious flash this was always going to be a murky shot. To the eye, though, the star added a cheery note to a gloomy night (and I mean gloomy solely in reference to the weather).

Welford Road Stadium, Leicester, 6th December 2009

And more in Leicester, this time tangled in some high beam on the towering new north stand of the Tigers' rugby stadium. The cavernous stand was silent and empty but was flooded with golden winter light, and this cluster hung and bobbed like a Christmas decoration from the rafters. Whether they were connected to the club I can't say - there hadn't been a match in eight days and the home colours are largely green, but it seems the most likely source regardless. I've never been to a game at the ground, though, so don't know if red and white balloon releases are part of their matchday pomp.

Granby Street, Leicester, 29th November 2009

Back in Leicester, and another wet night found this one rolling around on a crowded Saturday street. I'd spotted it from a way away, and was concerned when it was approached by a small group ahead of us - I hoped they'd be gentle. Happily an idle kick was all it received, leaving it intact for my approach.

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.

Sutherland Avenue, 15th November 2009

The wind was blowing this trio along at a leisurely pace when I spotted them, and they skidded eastwards up the road as I snapped. After a few standard grounded shots a sudden strong gust lifted them from the pavement and by chance the cluster was caught by its longest member through railings. The group stayed like this awhile while I smiled and shot and moved on. But I came back the same way a few hours later, and there was inevitably no sign of them at all.

Camden High Street, 14th November 2009

And more orange! The source of these was as evident as that of the branded enbranched balloons before - a few paces further on there was a balloon modeller twisting various shapes. I don't know what this inchoate design had done to offend, nor whether it was discarded by twister or recipient, but I doubt it lasted long on the crowded streets of Camden on a Saturday night.

James Street, 9th November 2009

The Dutch do not have a monopoly on orange balloons, of course. The next day, back in London and hurrying through a chilly night to rejoin friends at a restaurant, I saw these above the crowds. No patriotic fervour here, though - these are branded by TGI Fridays, whose restaurant just south of here must have been handing them out. They were in practically the same spot as one seen similarly snagged over Christmas shoppers a while back. That one was orange too, although no logo was visible, but it was more likely to have been of Friday origin than Dutch pride, I suspect.

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.