just added to davescollections

i found this chap on Sussex Gardens, London on the way to paddington station. it was face down which is the best way to find passport photos. the joy which greets you when you turn it over and find it's a real passport photo is amazing !

more like this on davescollections of course

another one for davescollections, this time found by a cash machine near the station in Reading.

i found these negatives last month. i'll pop them on davescollections too.

hot on the heels of boy 53 is boy 54, also a train pass photo. this time i handed it in at Paddington Station so i'm unlikely to make the reunion myself.

can you believe it, i managed to reunite this chap with his lost travel card! hoorah for a happy ending.

in all my time collecting photos for davescollections, this is the first one i've reunited

for those interested in the story of reunition:
from the ticket i knew his local train station, so i found which train operators run out of that station and phoned their lost property department. they put a note with my phone number in his file and when he went in to buy his replacement ticket he got the message to phone me

i found this train pass on the way to work yesterday morning. it's still got a month to run on it and costed 235pounds and thirty pence. i phoned his local train station and they took my phone numbers so if he gets in contact i can hand it over to him in person.

i'll let you know what happens and if i do meet him i'll be sure to capture the moment on camera and post to davescollections

(i've obfuscated (great word, but probably spelt wrong) all the sensitive details on the picture)

update: reunited here

here's something from last may. it's esther and kezia spotting something on the floor. but what is it ?

it's a thing:

i walked past this little scrap of paper yesterday morning and after a few steps i thought "i wonder if that's a passport photo", so i went back and found it again.

here's a photo of it. it was stuck in a muddy puddle under a little bush on the edge of the road.

i managed to kick it out from under the bush and flip it over and it WAS a passport photo !

once i knew what it was i was happy to put my hand in the muddy rain to retrieve it for the collection.

i can't explain the joy of finding a genuine passport photo, especially in such unlikely circumstances. so i won't.

here's a pile of photos i found on tottenham court road

some have writting on the back explaining what they are:

as seen on davescollections

i found this woman a couple of weeks back. she was here with some negatives (which show a rock band and some kittens !)

here are the negatives

with the photos were some LPs:

and curiously some old bank statements

you can just about make out a shoe in this picture.

another one for davescollections

what a great time saving idea - this photo shop has a selection of pre-prepared photos in its window to save you having to wait !

see davescollections for more lost/found photos

here is a bit of a passport photo, ideal for one of my other websites: www.davescollections.com (which i've recently updated by the way).

unfortunately all we got was the hair.

libraries are great places to find lost photos. especially university ones as we all know what students are like.

here's a display of lost/found passport photos from the library window at UCL.

i'll add to www.davescollections.com at some point

aha. the holy grail of street stuff is the lost photo. the lost passport photo is the king of the crop.

so imagine my excitement when i saw this on the floor. could it be a passport photo ?

i picked it up and yes !

a little along the street was this slightly burnt 'passport photo holster'.

i'll add this to davescollections when i get a chance

i'm a bit behind on davescollections. i really must catch up.

here are two photos we found on my marathon training walk in henley. one was of an elderly lady and the other was a school photo.

i thought this was a giant photo but i suspect it's some kind of advertising thing.

just cuz someone threw it away doesn't mean the idea isn't good. maybe it just wasn't appropriate for where they wanted to take their brand.

there's a gold thing stuck in this pavement. i wasn't sure if it was a ring or an ear ring. either way i didn't pick it up.

another one for davescollections. or is it ?

it was sent to me by the notorious Boy 34. He claims this time it'd real, but can we be sure ?

I'm inclined to agree this time as i think the strange holes in this photo are beyond a prankster's experience. but i could be wrong.

whether it's real or fake, it's still fantastic !

26things

i found a passport photo this morning near my hotel in brussels.

i'll add to davescollections in due course.

yesterday i spread all my found photos out on our living room floor, helped by my daughters.

i was very pleased with the modern girth of my collection.

see them all at davescollections.com

here is a fan stand. i suspect the fan on top blew too hard and whizzed off somewhere on its own. but where ?

i returned from holiday to find my colleague Telco John had found this passport photo for me. what a nice thing to return to.

see it on www.davescollections.com

i work in the 'media quarter' of london and occasionally i'll see film canisters lying around. here was one tied to some railings on tottenham court road.

i'm working from home today so got to take esther to school which was fun. there was a coffee morning for parents so i had a hot water as esther proudly showed me all the work she's already done this term.

then it was registration time so i came home to work.

on the way we saw this lost eeyore. According to esther he's been there all week and has no tail.

could this be the lock to the key ?

i call it a spade

it looked as dirty as ditch water

it's been a while since i've found a photo. i think this is punishment for not keeping davescollections up to date, but i will update it. soon ok.

so i was delighted to find this scrap of photo this morning on bentinck street where i once found this jewel.

here's someone to do list. mostly shopping for water, salad, birthday card, rings for dave and janessa (jewellry always popular), toothpaste and the Internet. and exchange rates for America.

this looks like a gift from elaine and roger from their wedding. how generous to give your guests a piece of ribbon.

but what of that word 'ebration' on the label. is that 'inebriation' (spelt slightly wrong, but that never stops me ?

it's another street coaster:

i see quite a lot of these. perhaps they should have their own category.

found near the caravans

there was a couple of abandoned caravans in the paddock behind where we were staying in scotland:

i think this would make a great desktop picture:

click for big fun (but don't blame it on the sunshine)

i spotted this little space ship on the road on the way to work this morning. i've always thought it quite presumptious that alien life forms would be the same shape and size as human beings (or beans).

so it was no surprise to me that now they've eventually turned up they've arrived in a teeny weeny spaceship on what must be to them a giant landing strip.

i was a little concerned that they've parked on the wrong side of the road though, so i suspect they aren't from the UK originally.

it's back to work tomorrow after 2 weeks off. the first week we were in scotland (by the way we are only up to tuesday lunchtime in retro-posts on that week).

whenever we go on holiday we always think about whether we would like to live in the place we are visiting. scotland was a bit wet but was incredibly beautiful.

my main concern would be whether there would be enough blogging material to photo. working in london is great for photos, but would the highlands be quite as good. nature can provide some fantastic photos of course, but it's the human touch on life that i enjoy.

if ever we did move (highly unlikely in the near future i imagine) then i think rivers could provide a solution to my human remains problem. we took a walk along the Clyde in Helensburgh and saw all sorts of junk washed up.

here's a fridge and a squashed buoy:

my first scottish find ...

holidays are good, but it's nice to come home too. especially when the weather is loads drier and warmer than on holiday !

but i have so much to share (700 photos - i'll try and narrow them down). i'll do it a week in arrears over the next 7 days starting tomorrow.

back in real-time for a moment, here are two 'finds' near our house upon our return. a comb and a snapped plastic spoon.

update: now i've looked at how much photos of quality items i've taken i think i may spread it over the next few weeks !

(from Dan who may wish to comment on his photo in the comments)

a piece of office history

boots in the mud on the bank of the thames

here is a very satisfying find from this evening. it's the best type of photo to find - a passport photo.

but better than that was the way i found it ...

i arrived at London Bridge tube station and realised i needed the loo. i finally found the toilets when i eventually found the signs but it was closed and said i needed to go to platform 6 to find the gents. but i needed a ticket to get to the dunny, but a lady let me through the barrier. after i'd visited the john i walked back down platform 6 and this lady was on the floor in front of me.

if i hadn't needed the bog i wouldn't have found the photo. simple as that.

i love finding photos when i've made some random diversion. it makes me feel i've been diverted to them !

there were jumpers and coats all over henley this evening. here is one example.

i spotted this little gold coin just along from where i found the jewel . it looks like a little roman coin. perhaps the wet weather washed it up from some underground long lost Roman settlement below the streets of london.

no bolts, but loads of nuts.

i really will get round to updating davescollections soon. i was thinking about this today and how i hadn't found a photo for a few weeks. and there on park lane was this little chap waiting for me.

park lane has treated me well for photos over the years.

lots of interconnected aluminium sticks leaning against iron railings. more wannabes i recon

i'm working from home today (8am start instead of 4am as i've got a stinking cold and feel like poo), so i was delighted when john sent me these photos of boots in the street outside my office.

it looks like he took these photos from my desk.

looking at the photo, i wonder if it's a setup by that bollard on the top left hand corner. he looks ready to pounce if anyone approaches them.

i spotted this thing on the floor this morning in a rather posh street. I suspect it might be quite valuable as it has some stamp on the metal and the jewel looks fancy.

but i know nothing about that kind of thing so it's probably not worth anything. i left it on some railings in case the owner comes back to look for it.

there's a tube strike today which means the streets are full of people with maps trying to find their way to work above ground for a change.

i kept wanting to shout "i do this everyday you know". but didn't. instead i enjoyed the chaos at every road crossing as people tried to work out the traffic light phasing and deal with the random london drivers.

i was heartened to see that if things got really bad people could turn to violence. this razor blade and carpet gripper thing (bit of wood with nails sticking up) would provide ideal weapons if someone wanted a duel.

not sure who would win though.

it's a work pass. handily dangled on some railings in case the lady in the picture comes back looking for herself.

a piece of photo. it's a person but of unknown agenda.

... broken guitars.

hoorah for tin pan alley

i found this 'this' behind the church organ this morning.

travelling by public transport is always good for catching bits of people's conversations.

the other day i overheard someone say "i've just had a conceptual epiphany. there are too many intervening variables".

i thought i'd never remember that so i wrote it down.

here is a snippet of someone's conversation in letter form. there's enough here to spark interest.

i got an email earlier today containing these negatives which mase found in the street in Cardiff. he says:

"I found a negative strip of 4 frames whilst walking to work today I work in Cardiff and found the strip discarded on a side street. The details are 8:55a.m. on Windsor Lane, Cardiff. I've scanned the print and have attached it."

after a bit of manipulation in photoshop it looks like this when un-negatived:

soon and very soon i shall update davescollections with my latest finds and add it. thanks Mase !

one for davescollections in due course

this morning i saw a cat lying in the morning sun at the side of the road with its tongue dangling out. sadly it had become an ex-cat and i was a little sadened (after being happy-ed by the budding flower).

a few steps along the pavement was a tiny square of carpet (about 10cm square)

and a little further a long the street was this VISA card. i phoned up the stolen helpline and they said it had already been reported stolen. they said if i took it in to a bank they may give me a reward but the lady on the phone said she doubted it !

i suspect all three things are related but i don't know how/why.

i used to know a guy who would always ask me if i had any cigarettes i could give him. i don't smoke so i always said no. he would then inform me that it didn't matter as he would pick up some tab ends off the street.

that was over 10 years ago but i hear he's still going through the same routine with passing strangers.

maybe he's got a franchise going on or a brother in london with the same make-do attitude.

in a skip in a posh village:

where do you put all that stuff you want to throw in the bin, but might go off and stinky if it gets too warm ?

answer is the fridge bin.

there's still the problem of what to do with your half drunk half pint of beer (as seen here)

i've just updated davescollections with my last found photo and i've just found a new one ! hoorah.

i found a photo for davescollections today. it was a real achievement as it was a face down job (so it looked like any old scrap of paper). hoorah.

i'll put it on the site tomorrow evening.

it's so hot in london that people are spending more time outside than they usually would. there's always those who want to make a statement and go one step further.

a few people have taken the phrase 'out doors' a little too literally.

lynda hasn't got a camera. but she does have a husband. and he has got a camera. so he took this photo of a prison lighter which she found in the street.

these are probably fairly exclusive items available only to crims who've been banged up. alternatively, perhaps there's a prison gift shop where you can buy this kind of merchandise when you get discharged to remind you of your time in side ?

they probably also give you a carriage clock engraved with the words "I did my time between [insert dates here]".

matt's photo is now on davescollections right here

the malting continues

london's hotting up again which is nice. the result is that the natives are shedding their winter coats. here is one example

coming soon to davescollections.com.

Matt (the blog's landlord) found this last night. more details to follow !

update: now on davescollections

here is an ironing board outside a guest house. ironing boards look so lost out in the street.

these boxes are obviously time and space portals taking anyone who walks in to them in to another dimension.

i thought it not worth risking going inside. so i didn't.

cheryl sent me this found portait. it's very good and has a nice message on the back:

thanks cheryl !

esther and i found this hat. i asked her to point to it for a photo, but she said i should point to it and she'd take the photo. so we did.

by the way, i must say a thank you to PigPog for the tribute to the glove the collection

(by the way, i'm not sure what's happened to my face in this photo. it looks like i've got weird hair and missing lots of teeth. hoorah for jpg compression).

life is an education. especially if you are teacher. i have to make do with learning from looking. today i learnt that tellies won't work if you leave them in the rain.

bill bailey once said "hardest job in the world - selling doors door-to-door"

i found this yesterday, and can you believe it, i forgot about it until just now !

this is boy 48 and is now posted on davescollections

a vicious unbrella handle:

a cigarette and a pen. both straight items. both lost in the street.

here is something you don't see everyday. unless you work in a factory which makes them i suppose. but i don't, so i don't.

notice the early evening shadow. lovely.

here is a sign about a found cat. i don't think this is the same cat that was previously lost (unless it's in disguise, which it could be, because cats are quite cunning).

however, i wonder if the original cat loser would be interested in taking in this newly found cat. i have telephone numbers for both parties from the signs, so i could arrange a meetup.

look what they did to the chair. they've put it in a body bag but haven't taken it away. why would anyone do such a thing ?

here is a little bit of photo. i looked around and couldn't find any more so it won't make it to davescollections

this poor chair has been abandoned outside a restaurant. its front legs are missing.

the other chairs sit and laugh from the window of the restaurant. they think they are so prim and proper.

but they too could be so easily cast out in to the street.

but i look again and i see that i was mislead. the chair outside is kneeling and bowing its head in homage to the king and queen chairs through the glass.

it is a scene of respect and not pitty. how wrong i was

this incivility (is that a real word) is spreading

there's a photo on the shelf behind this man's head. but is it a lost photo ? i don't know. and i didn't ask. everyone loves a mystery.

we are meant to report anything suspicious to the authorities in these hyper-sensitive times. but where do we draw the line ?

this morning, whilst walking to work, my path was blocked by this plastic stone plinth. it wasn't there on friday.

it could be packed full of manure (as favoured by the modern day incendiarist i believe). but i strongly suspect it isn't.

if you are interested, i've just updated my found photo website to include the latest find and an old thing which i forgot to put up last year !

www.davescollections.com

yesterday - another photo from the middle of hyde park. will add to davescollection in due course.

a biker boot on a metal square

z-beds are ideal if you need an extra bed temporarily. i wonder why people of the street haven't been making better use of this technology ?

there's a sofa next to my office which has been thrown out. i noticed it had computer monitor and a carrier bag on it. it's next to a skip and has been there all day so it's obviously for the bin.

in the carrier bag was a load of scalextric track:

john went on a mission to get it:

let's hope ebay can come up with a few cars, power supply and controllers ...

dan, from san francisco-shire (that's in america you know) found this photo outside his place of employment.

within hours of finding it he jumped on a plane with his family to hand the photo over in person:

and here is the photo (it's quite small and dark so this is as good as it can be):

jack straws. pick up sticks. station stirrers.

here is a slightly threatening post-it note. it says "next time something is going over". is this a note from hit man to a client regarding a contract to throw someone off a bridge ? should i phone the police or investigate myself ?

a large scourer or perhaps it's an astro turf divert from a roof top london golf course.

here is a washing machine outside a laundrette. business is growing at a greater rate than their accomodation. they should put up some rotary washing lines instead of the electronic driers.

it's rare to find love on the street of london. but here it is. for all to see.

there was a glove nearby, but i didn't see it (it was reported to me later). but i did see this hat on a bench.

a ram in the street.

amber. the colour or the person ?

look ! the first found international american found photo of animals.

thanks to cheryl of batanoir for this.

see it on davescollections !

here is something wrapped in tin foil. or is it aluminium foil. if only i had had a magnet. i don't know what is inside.

it's probably a potato but i could be transplant organs as it was just off London's explusive private clinic area - Harley Street. [i accidentally made the word explusive up - i think it's a good one. you can use it if you like]

here is a teething ring in a tree. ideal for trees to teeth on. trees do have teeth but they aren't very good. usually their bark is worse than their bite.

i found this photo under a lorry by St Paul's Cathedral. i thought it looked like it could be a photo but it was face down. so i knelt down and put my hand under the lorry (hoping it wouldn't drive away). and to my delight it was a passport photo (the purest type of found photo).

best of all was that i was leaving a message on our home answer machine at the time and you can hear my exclamation of delight !

UPDATE: now added to davescollections

yes sir, yes sir, here are two bags full of bread cakes. or buns. or baps. or cobs. there are so many names for this basic food item.

there's been a lot of door talk recently. the green door and the doctor's door. and now we have a door with a kangaroo on it.

a seat by the bins so you can sit and wait for the bin men to come

i don't usually go through people's bins, but this bin bag and dustbin were already open. it was outside some posh person's house. they've obviously never heard of charity shops.

however, things like this could help me if i ever decide to do my street clothes challenge.

spotted this outside our local do it yourself shop.

i assume it's a shopping list and it says '6 large, 2 very small'

a complete doctor's room was being thrown out, including the door, which magically was standing on it's own (it's not leaned against the wall)

lolly in exactly the place i saw the marshmallows

here's a photo i found in hyde park this evening. but is it a boy or a girl. i have to decide before i post it on davescollections as this is how i categorise them. sister binky says it's a boy. what do you think ?

i'll await some kind of consensus before i post to davescollections.

interesting how the door opens on to the road side and that the chair is behind the fridge. makes you think.

these things are neither mellow nor marsh like.

they are simply little clouds that the cloud people have packaged up and send down to us.

they aren't even good clouds. they are cloud people rejects (they keep the good clouds to use as real clouds). they are but cheap imitations built and packaged up for the tourists.

here are some found things. i didn't realise at the time but it's also a self portrait (it proves i'm wearing a synthetic tie today)

also ... doesn't the basin bottom look like a smiley face ?

click for big versions

update1: this isn't me after all ! see comment ...

update2: They were filming the sequel to Bridget Jones' Diary around Borough Market (where i took this photo) so this collection of junk may have been an artfully arranged prop.

this abandoned over night bag contained a shirt. i didn't venture any deeper in to it.

i found a tube pass. it had a photo in it. But it also had about £250 of unused month's travel on it. so i handed it in at Goodge Street tube station.

i love chocolate. here is some new style galaxy on the floor by my local train station. i didn't eat it. instead i bought a sausage and chips which i ate whilst walking back down my icey street. they tasted great and i loved it.

until i dropped my sausage and became irrationally angry. i reminded myself of jonah when his fig tree died (6-9).

i had no right to be angry with God about my lost lunch.

here is a bit of photo i found. it was very dirty and there wasn't any other bits around. this one isn't even worthy of including in davescollections

anything blaine-in-a-box can do, the queen can do better. he she is on a one pence piece encased between layers of ice.

and here is a towel nearby:

and a little further up the road, a mattress:

and finally, a cigar in very good condition:

it's a comb. on the pavement. yes.

random street item

our short walk today brought us in to contact with many interesting things. a cooker, an old shoe and an abandoned TV. The TV still had the mains plug attached, but there wasn't any power sockets in the park to see if it still worked.

i found this on the pavement near where i live. it's been there for a few days. in my opinion it's a quality street.

having kids makes you realise that this bear is one of two things: chaff or chum.

if it's chaff then it's simply another teddy in someone's collection and it's loss will not be noticed (it may have been thrown out deliberately).

if it's a chum then it's a vital friend of the child who will be missing it dearly and searching high and low for it. there will be tears and sleepless nights for all involved.

let's assume it's chaff so as not to upset ourselves on a monday morning.

esther spotted this and was desperate for me to take a photo. i happily obliged.

here is a clock in the street near where i live. it reminded me of my previous clock coincidence. esther was very concerned as it wasn't working (and neither was I)

click clock to see it in its full glory.

this pile of cack was on the street outside my favourite charity shop. i think it was from a split bin bag (bling bag ?) and was probably charity rejects. there's a level of second hand junk that even charity shops don't want.

including a Hayes V34+ analogue modem (with adapter) it seems.

yeah, just found another photo:

read all about it on the davescollections website

esther spotted this bobble and was adamant that i stand and delivered a photograph of it. so it did. she's pointing at it on the floor on the right hand side

here is a shoe in the river thames. perhaps there is someone upside down ('upsway down' according to esther) still wearing it. we didn't pick it out to find out. sometimes it's best just to leave these things be.

when i took this photo i thought it was a glove. upon further inspection in the comfort of my own home it looks more like socks

i once wondered crafted a phrase which i shall share with you now

"That's not a table, it's a backless widechair"

you can use that if you like.

a three legged chair can be a good thing, but only if you lay the legs out correctly. there is something to learn for us here.

here is a scrap of paper i saw on the floor outside a restaurant where i had just eaten chicken. It says 'hen you die'.

a new photo for davescollections. i spent ages picking up the bits in marylebone high street yesterday evening. unfortunately i must have missed a piece !

yet another photo for davescollections. we had a family outing to london today. we were very tired by the time we got to westminster, but i was keen we walked up whitehall to trafalgar square. it also meant we passed horseguard parade so i would get a photo of a horse for today's advent calendar picture.

Just next to horseguards parade, jane spotted the top of this bloke's head on a teeny piece of photo on the floor. we then spent the next five minutes on a family hunt for other bits of the photo. we only managed to find 3 pieces. I suspect they may actually belong to two seperate photos because the bottom two bits overlap slightly.

so how fantastic is that ! a family lost photo find. i would definately have walked past this one. esther was very pleased.

home made biscuit on a grafitti-ed telephone cabinet

and here is a lemon on a zebra crossing

here is a photo i received on our internal post at work. last time i received such a photo it was a fake. therefore i can only assume the same here.

but i shall give the sender some pleasure by displaying the photo here anyway. i won't put it on davescollections as an official photo though !

round the corner from the pop idol bus were these two bottles of baileys (empty). i thought they looked quite nice balanced on a pavement edge opposite a pub.

i often see money and i rarely pick it. i prefer to leave it for those who really need it. here is £1.

another passport photo. this time found by myself at Edgware Road tube station.

i wasn't going to get off at this station (as paddington station, where i was heading, was the next stop), but found myself unmistakenly drawn to get up and walk the 10 minutes to paddington.

as i walked up the stairs which lead to the exit i found this photo for my collection

being on top of the world from such spiritual guidance i walked boldly off to paddington station. on the way a police man stopped me and said "and why do you think you can walk down here sir ?".

It turned out there was a 'suspect package' in the street and they had closed the road (though tube trains were probably running just under the road !).

If i'd be quick of thought i would have answered "because i am impervious to explosives", but you never think of these things at the time. in the end my walk took me 20 minutes instead because of the diversion, but it was worth it to find the photo.

this is my first cut-out photo.

by the way, i'm planning on a proper makeover to the davescollection website which is why i haven't updated it for a while. this will be my christmas project, and my main present to my friends and family (apologies to those expecting CDs etc) ...

there is a modern trend to walk down the street with a cup of coffee on the way to or from work and meetings. of course people also talk on their mobiles whilst walking down the street.

so what do you do if your phone rings and you have a cup of coffee ? well you put the coffee down of course. but where ?

on a street coaster of course. here is one decorated with a cow in the middle of the road.

personally i think it's a little dangerous to walk in to the middle of the road to put your coffee down, but the risk assessment men with their complicated spreadsheets will probably have calculated that for this particular piece of road, the risk of burning your ear with coffee whilst answering your phone is greater

here is a cushion in the street. perhaps this is a 'fainting blackspot' and the council have taken protective action.

here is a tape i found. i left it there in case it contained something bad. and i haven't got a video tape player (my betamax video player only plays analogue beta tapes).

here's a good safety idea. it's a whistle left in the street. if anyone has any problems they can pick it up and blow it and the local constabulary will come and help them

i found THREE seperate photos yesterday. all of them passport ones (my favourites). They were all in different bits of London and all totally random finds. someone was trying to tell me something ... but what ?

people of the street have a lot of facilities made available to them by the council. here is a microwave and laser printer

big excitement !!! found another photo for the davescollections site this evening on the way back home. it had obviously been in a puddle for quite a while as the colour has all washed away.

i was very pleased with this find as it was on the opposite side of the road from where i usually walk and the street lights weren't very bright.

as always, i'll add to the main site once i find time to do the Frontpage thing.

it's stopped raining which is good news. i've decided to stop work on my Ark for a while. other people have taken equally affirmative anti-rain actions.

here is a brolly someone has simply cast aside in to the gutter. i bet they'll regret that once the rains comes back. or maybe they've got another one. who knows. who cares.

where there's gloves there'll always be hats (and plenty of apostrophes)

left at a bus stop

here is a very exciting thing. it's a posh shoe on a stone pillar. it was on a main road near a crossroads and a train station. we have friends who live nearby but they've temporarily moved because their house is falling down.

i spotted this find as we whizzed by in the car (i was driving). 5 minutes later we had to drive back down the same road so i got jane to drive and she let me run out and take the photo (much like she did for the army barracks dog a week or so back)

the shoe looked very new. perhaps someone threw it out because they realised it was beige ?

esther and a one penny piece

esther with one glove, then a few moments later with the other glove

is this one of those poor jelly babies i saw the other day or a different one ? It was looking very dirty. a jelly baby tramp.

another photo found by Telco-John for davescollections. but is it a fake ?

click for big version (it's in an envelope for protection!)

exciting morning - found a photo in the street which i can add to davescollections later. (i generally obscure the faces when the picture is obviously of a child)

here is the answer to lack of storage space for the homeless. it's part of the government's scheme called 'drawer for the poor' (sounds more convincing when said with a Yorkshire access 'draw-er for the po-or'

meanwhile the outside heating concept (also for the homeless perhaps) is proving so popular they've also provided more radiators and a television set (as i suggested for a different application last week)

as reported earlier i was concerned that i may have been misled over one of my found passport photos. it was submitted by a work colleague.

but it appears that the person who submitted it was having a jape at my expense (as suspected by at least one of my colleagues). i didn't want to believe it, but i can't hide from the truth.

therefore, it is with great sadness that i announce that Boy 34 is a fake.

it was a good day for clothes today. i didn't find any gloves, but did find this hat:

and a rather mysterious red and white thing:

no wonder we are suffering from global warming. there are radiators all over london.

here are some near paddington:

and here is one by my office:

here is some food found by my colleague rob.

i like how the turmoil of the apple situation of offset against the serenity of the wrapped cheeses. it screams the questions "how did it get there" and "why did rob take the photo".

perhaps it was catapulted using the blue and black strands to the left of the picture ? i'm sure they are significant.

click for big version

stockholm obviously realises its wealth of gloves and incorporates it in to its art:

here is someone hiding under a lampshade in the same art gallery:

and here is a postcard of passport photo shops in Chicago

well, here is a thing. the identity of one of my found photos was revealed. i met Boy 34 this evening. He was submitted by a work colleague last December and now appears to work for the same company as me.

Boy 34 this evening:

found photo, december 2003 2002:

a coincidence or made up non-truth ? dunno at this stage ...

here is a burnt bit of paper i found. it makes mention of the fire brigade. how mysterious.

jane found this in the garden of some friends we visited today. is it yours ? we put it in the hedge so anyone going by can say "ooh luck, a monkey in a tree"

ash was very upset about not picking up the photo this morning. he's made amends by providing me with a lovely photo of a rather agressive trolley.

ash arrived this morning and said he'd seen a photo at tottenham court road tube station this morning. he'd been too shy to pick it up or take a photo of it with his phone.

it took a while to explain exactly where the photo had been seen, but once i was happy i understood the location i whizzed off down to see if i could find it.

unfortunately i couldn't see anything photo like in the area where he had described. i even went down in to the station and had a look round there and came back out to street level walking very slowly and examining everything.

in the end i gave up. just as i was walking away i found a passport photo !

the fantastic thing is that this ISN'T the photo that ash saw. it's a different one. i think i summoned this one to my path by my longing to find a photo.

so where is the one that ash saw ? we don't know. but he's going to go looking for it at lunch time. how do i know ? because i'm going to make him go ...

update: the photo that Ash saw was never located :-(

i often see business cards in the street. i don't bother about them mostly (they don't bother me either - it's a mutual non-bothering thing). however, there was a flock of them on the street this morning:

it's a nice advertising idea. i thought of a similar thing for church pamphlets which i called 'litter evangelism'. you can share the Good News by throwing colourful brochures all over the street and public transport. i have heard some religious cults already do this - they leave their magazines on the tube.

these cards belonged to the office manager:

please note, i'm not in any way suggesting that the person named on these busines cards is involved in a religious cult. you could always phone up and ask them - i've got their number (and fax and email)

i saw this yesterday, but thought it too good to be a passport photo. it was there today so i checked it (by lifting it up and looking on the back). i was right. it wasn't a passport photo at all. but here it is anyone for your enjoyment

however i did find this:

and this:

here is a bit of photo i found on the way in this morning. obviously a person, but we know nothing else about them. what can it all mean ?

salmon and cucumber sandwiches

as you know, occasionally i nice piece of spam takes my fancy. i liked this one and the website is jolly good too. i have a wife and am quite happy with her, but as an act of public service to you the reader (and irina's once fish catching grand mother), here is the contents of that email for your delight.

here is my latest find. the other day i got off the tube at great portland street when i meant to get off at euston square and found a long lost college friend.

today i got off at euston square when i meant to get off at great portland street and found this photo.

when riding the tube, ignore where you are going. just get off when it feels right.

this is possibly the madest photo i've found. at some point i'll add it to davescollections

here is my favourite techno corner junk yard just underneath BT tower. yesterday there was a fridge, a table and an old computer

here is a mysterious thing i saw on the way back home tonight. it's a massive black box on the left connected with some wires to some electronical thing on the right. it's location was outside a strategic British Telecom telephone exchange (i shall not reveal it's actual location, nor indeed how i know this information)

so what is the device ? is it likely to go boom ? is it part of a telephone exchange ? is it a congestion charge enforcing device ?

who knows. who cares

there is man-of-the-street who 'lives' somewhere between paddington and oxford circus who collects the kind of junk i take photos of and put them in a trolley. i often see him in the morning transporting his trolleys through the streets of london.

today i saw him with 6 seperate trolleys, all piled high with junk.

here they all are:

trolleys 1 and 2 in front and number 3 behind (with the guy himself sitting down):

number 4 in front and number 5 off in the distance by the lamp-post

number 6 all nicely piled up

the letter 'n'

whilst walking near the hound parade i found a mysterious chair. i suspect it is art

found this photo this morning on the way to work. was face down on New Cavendish Street. this was the only bit I could find.

this was in the street near the office. a most peculiar device.

finally got round to updating www.davescollections.com with the latest two found photos

the first chair i saw this evening was a swivel chair. it contained an empty can of beer and an old cigarette packet. i suspect this was once the seat of a smoking alcoholic who liked to face in different directions whilst sitting.

the second chair i saw was made of wicker and contained old egg shells. i suspect this chair was once the seat of a bird

here is a fridge near Marble Arch. in the background you can see grid locked power outage traffic. interesting that all the lights are on ...

next to Smithfield meat market is an old building with a massive ancient sign on the wall informing us, the public, that is "the central cold storage".

I guess this is where they kept their meat cold in days gone buy. it was with some delight therefore that i saw an abandoned fridge outside it's front door !

i saw two chairs on my way home this evening:

this chair doubles up as a laser printer holder:

and there were two very posh chairs (and a nice table, and a naff table) left here:

here is a lost photo. it's wripped up and over some railings so i couldn't reach it. there was also a very strong smell of urine which put me off retreaving the pieces. nearly all the bits are face down so I couldn't see what the photo was of. oh well.

i saw at least 20 elastic bands in various places on my walk to work this morning. i was deliberately looking out for them following a comment added to an old post where i mentioned i had seen elastic bands.

Here are three of the many bands. perhaps the mysterons from thunderbirds were actually elastic bands ?

Found by grahame:

He found it whilst at a meeting in London. Let's let Grahame continue the story:

"I just popped to the loo in the coffee break and, to my pleasure,
discovered a photo to add to your collection which I will hand over to you
in due course (or get it scanned in at the office). For the record:

5th Floor gents toilet
TUC Conference Centre

The picture was laying face up on the hand drier. It was slightly bent,
adding to the appropriately glum face for such a position."

thanks Grahame. great find.

i saw this plant pot on a post yesterday. it was here again this morning so i took a photo. i'll keep an eye on it for you

here is one of those cans they put proper movie film in. perhaps it had a section of a latest pre-release blockbuster. i should have gone in to the road, opened it up and sold the contents to a newspaper. but i'm not that kind of chap. so, its contents remain a mystery

beetroot

(at least it is down by the local anotements allotments)

here is a photo of a lady peeping out of a bin. peek-a-boo lady

i had to stop the car and take this photo out of the window. wife and kids very impressed by my dedication to finding items in the street. this was in the countryside miles from anywhere. why would anyone bother to drive for miles in to the countryside to dump a fridge ? the council can come and collect them from your house i think. nought so queer as folk

this morning i saw a neat row of unopened cigars on the pavement:

here are the individual cigars:

upsway down washing machine with its guts ripped out.

an old favourite find this morning: a fridge

it's length fitted exactly the width of the raised pavement it was resting on. sort of makes you feel it was meant to be left there don't you think ?

i walked a different route to work today. i didn't much care for it. it took about 5 minutes longer, but that may have been due my hesitation at traffic crossings due to my lack of familiarisation with the road layout.

on the way I saw these bits of meat:

you don't want to leave meat outside even on cold days. leaving it out on very hot days is asking for trouble. i particularly disliked the bits on the right of the picture:

this morning i saw three chairs:

one burnt (the hot seat)

one stool

one comfy

these nails were all over the rails. they are clippy naily things for attaching wires to walls etc. i thought they looked nice in a randomly spread kind of way

I was delighted to find some photo bits on my way in to work this morning (after seeing Hugh Grant). The bits were spread over about 100 metres, all along Tottenham Street. The first two bits I found were the two smiling mouths.

I spotted this bird at the train station this morning. I could just see its legs poking over the top of the rails. Looked a bit comedy so I took a photo

here is the number 5 in the street. it's on a flip pad type arrangement with, i suspect, the other numbers accessible by flipping over pages. perhaps it belongs to a bygone quizmaster who has now gone digital

this morning there were old milk bottles all over the place. the whole of london is rancid. I must have seen around 10 bottles / cartons of old milk spewing milk blobs. nice.

i often see dog catcher vans round london. nowadays they capture furniture (it contains the future remember). here are two gentlement catching a sofa and a bookshelf. they were distracted by a 9volt power supply in a box, so didn't spot me taking this photo.

these people are a menace, and an enemy to the casual furniture / white good spotter.

someone had cleverly placed a set of table legs and frame around a bin, thus creating a table bin. brilliant concept. just eat your dinner and push what you don't want in to the hole in the middle.

i walked to chancery lane this morning from paddington station for a 10am meeting. on the way i passed a very posh street next to Hyde Park. It was so posh they even had free magazines in boxes for the locals to read whilst having their afternoon strolls.

All you high society magazines were there: tatler, cosmo etc.

And from the wording on the box they are all provided by the Westminster Council. Their council tax is high, but certainly worth it I imagine.

two nice chairs passed on my way to work this morning

I also saw a pair of knickers hanging out of the bin in the street opposite the office ...

it used to be that you'd see records everywhere. now it's mostly tapes and CDs in the street.

I was pleasantly surprised to see this piece of vinyl in the street this morning:

Uptown Top Rankin' by Tight N Up
1989 Fanfare Records, it's stereo, 12 FAN 20

found in Praed Street near the wig shop

(click for big version)

recently added to the davescollections site

found a passport photo today in reading, broadstreet, at about 10.30am

the things people throw away. saw this next to a bin this morning.
it's a full glass of lime and soda complete with slice of lemon and black straw.

10 minutes down the road i had seen a can of coke with a black straw in and nearby two baby cans of coke.

i saw this photo down a hole today. it was of a building and was printed on a piece of A4 so wouldn't have counted for my collection. But interesting never-the-less.

one of the problems of an outdoor fridge is that of security.
the owner of the fridge has addressed this issue by applying 'carpet tape' to the door thus rendering it, essentially, unopenable

a colleague of mine found these photos and an intriguing letter in her loft. the photos were found in opposite loft spaces and the letter was attached to one of them.
they are not added to main collection as they weren't really found in public. they have instead been returned to the loft space where they will lie in darkness. the loft becomes a fossil to the previous inhabitants.

when she moves out of the house she has promised to add her own photo to the pile to keep the tradition rolling.

streetcleaners are the enemy of rubbish collectors like myself.
somehow their vehicle still looks elegant

the landfills are full so we're piling old computer junmk in the street

this was a pile next to BT Tower in central london

one boot is better than none, but not as good as two. there is a natural order. maybe i should take pictures of 'no boots' whenever i don't see any anywhere. could be a rather large collection of pictures.
i shall ponder this further before committing to such an immense task

Found Magazine:
like www.davescollections.com but american and called Found Magazine

the trousers, they have fallen down:

found (n/r)esting on the steps of Camden Town Tube Station

(not actually dancing)

dirty knees

chair

kids coat

lampshade

just near harley street

2 fingers

look at all the gloves I've found recently !

found by Harley Street:

found by Middlesex Hospital (a little yellowed)

esther proudly pointing to a lost hat on a train bridge

found a passport photo today near middlesex hospital
was of a baby so i have had to pixelate it.

will add to www.davescollections.com this evening

found on the way to work.
wripped up flowers.

we all know about friends reunited. part of the idea behind www.davescollections.com was to reunite people with their lost photos.

well. someone ('old school mate') spotted that a photo had been contributed to the collection by one of their old school friends ('the contributor'). they ('old school mate') emailed me ('the site owner') to see if I ('the site owner') was still in contact with the contributor ('the contributor') and indeed i ('the site owner') was.

i ('the site owner') forwarded this enquiring email to the long lost friend ('the contributor') and got a response acknowledging they did know this person ('old school mate') from school.

however, they ('the contributor') didn't reply directly to the original email sender ('old school mate') so he ('old school mate') emailed me again.

i ('the site owner') have forwarded this email on again and we ('you, me and the garden fence') will have to see what happens. I ('the site owner') will keep you updated ...

also found £1 nearby.

come to london the streets are covered with money

loaf of bread, partly eaten, on a BT phone box.

makes you think ...

i saw this glove. it was moving down the road on finger tips.
could have been the wind. or something more sinister ...

eau my gush.

found this photo in the street. was ripped up and in a pile of wee.
I rescued the feet as shown below. i didn't see any bits of body or heads.

three double mattresses

I found this in a phone box today in Denmark Street (Tin Pan Alley):

• black hat left at station on a bench
• pink bonnet left on the slow train to london
• three elastic bands in the street (can't be more specific)
• welly on a wall on the way to work (see picture)

Chalk graffiti found drawn on floor at Polesden Lacey

photo by dave

photo of post-it note by dave

Just uploaded two new photos to the davescollection website.

They are Girl 22 and the contents of a Sony Memory Stick which I found near work. Both found on the same day. Click on the photos to go to their page

freezer spotted and photo taken by dave

photo of post-it note next to bike by dave

photo of post-it note next to bike by dave

sofa spotted and photo by dave