West End Lane, 11th June 2010

Make that four in four! I was leaving for work when I saw this, and rushed to snap it before its doom came under the wheels of a truck. But it had a reprieve - it passed right under it and the car behind, and was still rolling about when I got on the bus.

After the patriotic red below I was half-expecting a glut of World Cup balloons, and this was the first day of the tournament. But I couldn't think of a side whose colours are pale blue, I'd certainly not seen any flags in that colour, so I considered this just a random.

Off West End Lane, 10th June 2010

Three in three days, a rare thing. I'd seen this one before but in red and next to a World Cup-inspired flag I took it for part of the decoration. When I passed a second time, though, it had blown clear of them, and was rolling about on the lawn alone. It won't still be there, I'm sure, when the national team's doom comes and the flags are taken in in sorrow.

Off Carlton Vale, 9th June 2010

I wasn't expecting to get this. I spotted it from a car on the way home from work, a rare lift from my workmate and temporary landlady. I mentioned it with glee tinged with resignation as we swept past on the roundabout, but she indulged me, bless her, and pulled over nearby, allowing me to run back and snap it before we continued home.

You know who your friends are when they stop cars for balloons, but I knew she was long before that. She's not to be a landlady for much longer though, as a flat seen a few hours earlier passed muster. I wonder how Kentish Town will fare for balloons.

Abbey Road, 8th June 2010

A pretty sorry example in the midst of some roadworks. I was meant to be speeding past this spot on a bus, but more significant roadworks on West End Lane had led to an ugly tailback all the way to here and beyond, so I'd just left the bus in frustration to continue on foot. The jam was threatening to make me late for a viewing on a flat in West Hampstead. Walking, I beat the bus and made it. I didn't take the flat though - the agent's description was a bald and shameful lie: the "private garden" was shared. Grr...

From Long Acre, 16th May 2010

You wouldn't know it from these sunny bookends, but in the short hour or so between this and the last there was a torrential spring downpour that left the streets slick and reflective and sent Sunday shoppers scurrying for cover. This cluster shot up to the west and my first shot was blinded by the sun, but it drifted with the weather eastwards above me and stayed low enough for a good view.

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.

Wilton Road, 3rd May 2010

The first for what seemed like ages. The stalked pink was being hurried south by a biting northerly wind in the sun, and it hopped and twisted its way down the road past the indifferent buses and cabs. By the time my bus arrived it was still intact, rolling in a pedestrian corridor constructed as a safe passage by some roadworks.

Also, ironically, having decided not to include any more treed balloons due to their hardly fleeting nature, I honestly haven't seen one since the last.

From Edbrooke Road, 4th April 2010

A very similar shot to the last, a tethered black pair aloft on a fine sunny spring day. It was Easter day too, which meant that a slew of the larger local shops were shut, turning what should have been a simple trip into a wearying trudge around various small shops. These two drifted high over the road as we were just arriving home at the end of it all, which would have been welcome enough even without them.

From Granby Street, Leicester, 21st March 2010

If snagged balloons are now deemed too unfleeting for the future, too easy to snap and compose in their entrapment, the airborne remain the most difficult, and remain. The sunlit brickwork and clear blue sky make this, for me, prettier than many of the snatched shots of the windblown. It was a truly warm spring day and my last trip to Leicester for a while, and I hope the new season brings the balloons out in London.

Upper King Street, Leicester, 24th February 2010

I've been in Leicester a lot recently, but I didn't take this one myself. The one person who could draw me there every other weekend from my London idyll is now the fifth to send me a balloon. London suffered a dearth of Valentine's Day balloons compared to previous years (or perhaps the denizens of Maida Vale are not so keen to declare love in such a manner, or lose their tokens so carelessly to the air if they do), so it was good to learn that that paucity wasn't universal.

It has been a winter of balloons snagged in bare branches. I suspect their relative abundance is due to their stability and longevity, two features that set them apart from the other balloons here. Not fleeting, and with their fragility out of reach, they've lost their appeal, their challenge and their joy. So this will be the last snagged balloon. I toyed with the idea of deleting the others, but a few of them are favourites for various reasons, so they remain, but end here, at 45.

Glenelg Road, 19th February 2010

Back for a night visiting friends on my old road, I was greeted on my arrival by this free-standing brown, whose helium content was just enough to keep it upright on its plastic pedestal, but not enough to lift it aloft. As such it hopped and dragged itself along on the gentle breeze, almost falling over as it went only to be righted by buoyancy each time. It didn't hop too far either - when I left later on it had made it just a few metres, and had retained its proud posture to boot.

Off Waterloo Way, Leicester, 12th February 2010

I had barely left the station when Leicester's prolific streak was extended. This white had clearly rolled through something pretty sticky on its way to this secluded corner, and as there was no obvious tar pit around it must have rolled some distance from it too. To remain on the surface of the balloon in such a discrete line the substance must have been fairly viscous, which means that the balloon itself must have been travelling quite quickly to have made it through it at all. Most odd. This one, then, will go down as one of the mysteries.

Wingate Road, 4th February 2010

And finally, the first grounded balloon for months! This yellow was not an easy capture - I spotted it rolling around in front of some garages and stooped to snap, but the waft of a passing car picked it up and tumbled it roadwards. I stalked after it but had lost it, and wandered around curious awhile, sure it hadn't been popped under tyre, when I saw it hiding highlighted by the headlights of a passing car. It was too dark for anything other than to wait for another to illuminate the elusive escape, but happily the road was busy and the subsequent shot straightforward.

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester, 30th January 2010

The northenmost balloon to date and the first not snagged for a while, on a day that looks like spring but was bitterly cold. Piccadilly was heaving on this sunny Saturday afternoon, and the crowds and blue sky had an air of balloon about them, so this was almost expected. Still a pleasure though, especially after so many dark ensnared Londoners this winter. Seasons change, then, although the skeletal branches remain.

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.