Back In Black

It's been a while since we saluted some sinister leather numbers, but these, sent to me by Helena, are perfect, tiny, examples of the murder-friendly genre.

Helena says: "How very careless to lose both of them, and they clearly start them young with their murdering in Chester However, I fear the owner may have to retake their 'Murder: Necessary Equipment 101' module. Sigh."

Sigh indeed. Sigh and shudder.

Found in: Chester

God Save The Queen

Today's offering was sent to me by my dear godmother.

With the impending nuptials of our prince, the purple and gold colour scheme seems positively regal.

And the way the glove is positioned makes it look something like the waving hand of our cherished monarch.

Found at: Queen Square, London W1 (even the location is appropriate)

Dog Days Are Over

Here is the second in our two-parter from InvisibleWoman. She describes it thus:

'A tribute laid on the grave of a long-dead pet in the grounds of my local park, probably put there by a descendent so that the poor dead hound can feel a ghostly pat on the head now and again.'

Found at: Wollaton Park, Nottingham

Long Road Home

This the first of a double bill from one of my favourite readers, InvisibleWoman, who risked life and limb to bring this lost glove to wider attention.

She says: 'I felt a complete and utter Charlie standing at the side of a busy dual carriageway taking a picture of this strangely defiant gauntlet (I definitely get the impression of a two-fingered salute going on here). Thankfully, I have one of those new-fangled camera phones so I could pretend to be sending a text so urgent it required me to get off my bike and stand at the edge of a busy road. I did consider waiting for a bus to come thundering past so I could add dramatic effect to the picture, but you know what buses are like when you want one, and I couldn't trust myself not to get flattened at the same time.'

InvisibleWoman, we would, of course, rather you were alive to tell the tale than we caught a fleeting flash of bus.

Many contributors to this blog speak of feeling a bit of a chump as they take pictures of bedraggled fallen gloves in public. I understand this, but I believe you should think of yourselves as pioneers. They all laughed at Christopher Columbus [I am quoting George Gershwin here, or possibly his sister Ira] when he said the world was round. They all laughed when Edison invented sound.

But one day, when you're shame-facedly taking that picture, people will stop you on the street and say, 'Oh, you must be taking a photo for Miss Jones's blog. Not the main one. The other one she does when she fails to get round to posting anything on the first one and is trying to quickly make herself feel a little bit less shit about it.' And then you will laugh and shake hands and maybe go for a drink or fall in love. And man shall speak unto man – or woman – and nation shall speak unto nation and everything will go just a little bit better. Because of you. And – pardon my boldness – because of ME.