Kentish Town Road, 16th August 2011

This metal cage is the covering to an abandoned stairwell down to what used to be South Kentish Town tube station, which closed in 1924. It is now a pit collecting litter, while the beautiful building across the road, which was once the ticket office, is now a branch of Cash Converters.

I walk past this spot most days, and with more than a passing interest - in the spring I surreptitiously hung a hanging basket from the central strut above these bars, which has bloomed profusely all summer with red Impatiens (at least when I've watered it enough). This time I was wandering home from an abortive attempt at exercise with my flatmate, and we'd stopped to pour the contents of our water bottles into the soil. He is far taller than I am (I stuck a bottle to a stick for when I had to water it alone), so while he was drenching the basket unaided, I watched on and around and noticed this yellow below, matching the plasticked chain and the sign beneath. The plant flowers still, although surely not for much longer, for London grows autumnal, and Impatiens does not.

St Andrew's School, West Moorings, Trinidad & Tobago, 14th August 2011

From very close to work to very far afield: another gift from the Caribbean - thanks again Luna! Here's how:

"I attended a Family Day hosted by an NGO called Macaroni Kid Trinidad. It is a website and e-newsletter for parents across Trinidad and Tobago which promotes the idea of “Family First” by highlighting opportunities for families to reconnect via activities, events and local attractions. Instead of lamenting our social ills and blaming “the demise of the family”, they aim to do something positive to change the world we're leaving to our children. It was an amazing fun filled day, with tons of stuff for kids and adults alike. There were wet and dry bouncy castles, face painting, arts and crafts, games, food, live bands, and nature exhibits with live animals. My favourite part of the day was when they let loose onto the field 110 bouncy balls! The kids really enjoyed that. As with most kid related events, by the time evening fell and it was time to go home, the inevitable doomed balloon was spotted. At the back of one of the school buildings, next to the car park and sullied by dirty water a forlorn purple balloon sat. This balloon wasn't making it home with a kid."

Indeed not, but you found it and so so did I. It can't have crossed the mind of whoever inflated it for decoration that day that it would end its tumescent life in a gutter, on a camera and then blogged thousands of miles away. Random happiness amidst the chaos around us both.

Off Harrow Road, 1st August 2011

I thought a short few days ago that I'd never see one closer to work than this one. I was wrong. This is only closer by a few metres, but those few metres again would have placed it inside the office itself. Another one of those coincidences then, two in the forecourt in a fortnight. I've worked there since I started this blog, and a long time before that too - curious.

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.

Kentish Town Road, 18th July 2011

It never rains but it pours, as they say, and it was pouring this day. The recent glut makes the old adage work metaphorically and literally: three in four days after a long drought, although London is in anything other than a drought at the moment.

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..?

Off Gaisford Street, 15th July 2011

Summer's usually a good time for balloons, but it had been almost a month balloonless before I saw this, just metres from my flat on the way to work. The building in whose forecourt it lies is oddly incongruous on this street, looking more like a dilapidated French apartment block than a delapidated North London townhouse like the rest. Perhaps a bomb landed there during the war? It would be easier to find that out than the origin of this balloon, but at the time of writing I know neither.

Off Harrow Road, 20th June 2011

Some have been close to home, none had been this close to work before. I let the door slap happily shut behind me as I left into the rain, and before I'd even stretched out my umbrella I spotted this, sat hymenopteran beneath a car in the modest car park. It was small, shadowed and sorry, but I love it regardless, and was very glad the overhanging roof provided shelter for the shot.

Magdalen Road, 19th June 2011

Another gift! High on the telephone wires in a corner of London soon to be left by the sender, my might-as-well-be-brother-in-law. Will these last longer here than he does..?

Off Av. 5 de Outubro, Olhao, Portugal, 4th June 2011

A busy morning at the market, which means this shot may need a bit of a longer look than most. We'd stocked up on fish and were easing into the morning with a coffee when this rolled into view. Unlike most, its origin was clear - on a pedestal not ten metres away stood a tall man dressed in a tight white cloak with a white-painted face, clutching a handful of balloons that he was handing to children. There were a few of those living statue people around too, standing very still in metallic-painted clothes and skin to attract children and their Euro cents, so he may have been part of that odd band, or unrelated, but whatever, he had a fair few balloons.

The children, and there were many, lost interest in their balloons quickly after having been handed them, and that and the sea breeze made it very likely there'd be an escape. I had my camera out ready for this, feigning interest in architecture and swallows to my companions, until one rolled and bounced away and into the crowds. It didn't last long, under their tables and feet.

Wellington Street, 3rd June 2011

A second grounded yellow in a row, but I didn't take this one myself, and I was a long way south of the scene at the time. So thanks then to my mother, whose enthusiasm for this whimsy evidently knows as few bounds as my own.

I've also just noticed that this is the 100th grounded balloon. Mercy. I don't know whether to salute the pavilion or just weep. That's in just shy of six years. How long before 200, then..?

Off Harrow Road, 26th May 2011

Another leap off a bus, this time only one stop early, but I was only going to work and was in no danger of being late, so it was hardly that big a deal. It would have seemed a lot more annoying had I not got it though - I had time for one snap only before a small gust took it behind the wall to its right here, and with no way into the estate past the tough-looking barriers, my angles were gone and it remained out of sight until I decided to walk to the office.

Elgin Avenue, 20th May 2011

I was tempted to add a new category, "binned", but decided against it. I was waiting for a bus when this appeared from nowhere and bobbled around the feet of my fellow commuters. I tried a snap but it was eclipsed by a lady's legs, before being picked up by an elderly gent with white hair, a beige suit and a drinker's hands. I first thought he was going to crush it, but instead he merely picked it from the paving and placed it in the bin. Or tried - at first it bounced off the rim and rebounded to his chin, but his second attempt with no more malice saw it in place. I snuck around the back of the bus shelter and snapped it just as my 31 arrived.

Gaisford Street, 14th May 2011

I'd only left the flat for a local haircut, a mere few steps away from my door, but I was glad I took my camera as this yellow was wedged under a big 4x4 near the foot of the road. At least I'd thought it was wedged, so squeezed it looked, yet when I emerged shorn several minutes later it had gone, with no sign of movement from the behemoth above it.

Kings Arms Court, 13th May 2011

We weren't meant to be here, but my poor knowledge of this corner of East London saw us get off the tube at the wrong stop, en route to see a friend's band. I was darting looks up all the alleys to try to get my bearings, and although I hadn't fully got them by this stage, this small white at least provided a welcome distraction from my muttered "I'm sure it's this way"s. We made it eventually, although I wasn't ever 100% sure.

Coincidentally like the last, Google Maps doesn't show Kings Arms Court on its street map. I know it exists as I took a photo of the alley sign to remind me, but on the street map there's nothing, and I had to drag along the main road on streetview to locate it exactly. It is a staggeringly wonderful tool, but the last two show it's not totally reliable. Still a lot better than my knowledge of East London, though.

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.