Every day this year I've been photographing and then writing about objects that have been lost/abandoned in the street, and for some reason, this made me think of Pinter saying this:

‘I went into a room one day and saw a couple of people in it. This stuck with me for some time afterwards, and I felt that the only way I could give it expression and get it off my mind was...to start off with this picture of the two people and let them carry on from there.’
And...
‘I went into a room and saw one person standing up and one person sitting down, and I wrote The Room. I went into another room and saw two people sitting down, and I wrote The Birthday Party. I looked through a door and saw two people standing up and wrote The Caretaker.’

Maybe it's about what is there already, rather than what we have to fabricate....today's find was a purple satin bra, in a hedge. My rules are that I mustn't move the object, to place it in a better, more artistic/interesting/dramatic way, but must use what I find. Yesterday was a big pair of men's pants in middle of the road. I can't wait til tomorrow. Anyone got any similiar missions going on, writing-wise? I'm not sure where this is going, by the way, it's just a kind of way to stimulate some writing and see what happens....

Anna that's a brilliant idea! I must say today when I went out walking my head was in the clouds - I didn't see a thing. Note to self - must keep eyes skinned in future.

Where on earth do you live, Anna? They are really odd finds! It's a great idea though, and I particularly like the thought of leaving the finds just as they are instead of meddling with them. You must get odd looks sometimes though.

I often photograph funny little things I notice when out walking. Not long ago I snapped a funny home-made rag doll that had stuck in a tree in an alleyway near Kew bridge. Also two houses near me with strange alien figures painted on them, very out of keeping with the character of the road. The strangest thing I saw recently was when I out on a bike ride I saw a man walking a sheep, on a lead, and accompanied by another man who had an owl perched on his arm! I didn't photograph them though, due to being on the bike and cycling on a really muddy path (didn't want to put my foot down!) I do love these little exercises of observation ...

There was a series of photos a few years back where somebody had taken the same approach with rock bands.

It started, apparently, when a tractor pulling out onto the road had left great tyre tracks and a helpful passer-by had left a sign saying "Mud". "The Doors" followed and it went from there...
G

somebody had taken the same approach with rock bands.

Who? (I know it should have a 'The' in front of it really, but I couldn't resist.

I did have a moment of anxiety when I spotted the bra- waited til nobody was walking past and then photographed it, and got beeped by a passing van, but I must stress these were a couple of *good* days... often it's been a beanie hat or child's glove and there's not much to ponder on with those. My best ever, though, I have to say, was a suitcase on an abandoned railway line, with jeans and other clothes spilling out as if it was a body... when I stopped to photograph it, an elderly woman asked me if i was ok, and had somebody died? so not without risks... Jem, I think it does make me focus more on what is there and inanimate rather than having my usual nosey writerly head of observing people, situations etc- just a different way of observing things for a while. My current thing is just photographing, captioning, storing and then thinking how these might all, one day, come to be part of a whole Lost Property project.
Gaius, I love that idea- it's also a bit like the 50 Sheds thing in a way.... Manusha, I don't honestly live in a debauched area, but discarded pants do seem to feature a bit, locally, on a Saturday or Sunday morning... and very often men's shirts or tees. What are they doing??? Michelle- you can surely use the sheep...?! too good not to.

I'm wondering who can find the best, oddest, most unexpected bit of lost property? I don't know how we'd link a photo to here- must ask David- but it would be lovely to share the bras of the highway. And speculate on what has brought them to their resting place. (What also fascinates me is when they disappear, which said bra had this afternoon- who took it/reclaimed it/etc? or am I best off not knowing...?)

Yes, I've seen T-shirts and pants - as you say, goodness knows...

Man with a ferret on a lead was a nice moment. Although my favourite of all wasn't exactly discarded, but a notice on a seminar room door at Goldmsiths: "Ethnic Conflict is in Room 213"

I do carry a camera, and go through phases of actually looking for photographs (once upon a time I took photography quite seriously), but I find that either I have my writing eyes/mind, or my visual eyes/mind, switched on and the other one stays at home and puts its feet up.

Gaius, I love that idea!

I'd love that, if there was some way we could link to photos

Pairs of trainers hanging from telephone cables are a bit of a feature round my way. I've heard it's something to do with gangs and dealers marking their turf but prefer to consider that an urban myth...

ooh- now that has just answered an old question of mine. One of my best pics was a pair of trainers hanging on a telephone wire in Manchester and I could NOT work out how they'd got there or why- so that makes sense. Isn't it funny- the explanations are never as much fun as the ones you make up. But good to know. Only I'm confused... it means, this patch is ours as far as....where?
Emma, I love that sign. Fantastic. Did you photograph it?
Round our way, there is a garden stuffed with sheds- 7 at last count- and on the back gate a sign that says, in carefully put together proper outdoor sign letters, NO PARKIN. AT AL.

Yes, that's what they mean.

Michelle I love that. I've certainly seen plenty of them. Mind you, I can also see the appeal of trying to get an old pair of trainers to do that, even without any ulterior motive.

Did you photograph it?

http://www.blipfoto.com/entry/2560731

which does sort-of answer part of the question about uploading photos. I joined blipfoto to have a reason to keep taking photographs without too much pressure that this is My Best, that real photo sites have, but taking it all more seriously than fuzzy FB snaps of people's cats - and FB resolution is rubbish even if the photos are okay. But you could easily use it to collect something under a theme.

What also fascinates me is when they disappear ... who took it/reclaimed it/etc?

That's a great idea for a story right there! Hmmm, might think on that...

the back gate a sign that says, in carefully put together proper outdoor sign letters, NO PARKIN. AT AL.

That reminds me of a gate across a bridle path near where I used to live. It said: PLEASE SHUT THE SHUT THE GATE. I used to wonder how drunk they must have been to not notice that they'd written 'SHUT THE' twice. In the year and a half that I lived there they never changed it either!

Re the trainers hanging from telephone cable. Yes, like Jem says, it IS a fact that they were used to indicate a drug dealer in the area. When I lived in a council flat there were some trainers hung outside on the telephone lines and a drug dealer lived in the flat directly below mine.

My nephew explained it to me. He's never done drugs (well, apart from pot) and he's had...ahem...shall we say a chequered past, though he's never done anything violent. He said the trend began in the States, I think he said in the late Seventies. Apparently, it's no longer used to indicate a drug dealer as everybody knows what it means nowadays!