Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 18

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 17

With a long-lasting cold spell having settled over Northern Europe, it is inevitable that gloves and mittens are once again taken out and used on a daily basis. Inevitably too, as in winter past, some of them will stay outside, finding their way to branches of trees, the top of posts or the spiked railings of the witer city. Here a bright but lonely mitten keeps guard –or perhaps looks out for its companion. At least the railing is kept warm!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 15

Yes, with autumn now upon us and temperatures dropping daily like the leaves from the trees, we once again come across single gloves and mittens that have taken upon themselves to wander freely, away from their owners, to seek a better (or at least different) existence in parks, on benches and at street corners. This rather dirty specimen has at least found a place in the sun...

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 14

Yet another glove takes an unapproved vacation, and this one finds a spot in the sun to stretch out and soak in the warmth of summer...

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 13

Winter seems now to be over for another year and spring is almost upon us. But just before the snow melted I came across yet another glove that had gone AWOL and found its way to the top of a post, where it quickly became covered with snow. At least it had itself to keep warm!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 12

Yes, the gloves and mittens continue to go AWOL, especially now that winter has taken a firm grip. Here, a musically-minded glove crawls slowly towards the entrance of Oslo's opera house, perhaps to take in a performance. Interestingly, this is not a traditional opera glove, for they are generally longer and worn by ladies almost up to the elbow; what we have here is something far less elegant, but who said that even the lowliest of glove should not enjoy opera. There's a story here somewhere, but that's for someone else to write. meanwhile, the glove edges closer to the door and the wonderful, magical world inside...

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 11

With the return of winter comes the return of those freedom-craving mittens and gloves out on a spree. Once more they appear –almost always solitary– in the oddest places, but most often on trees, posts, benches, fences... Like cats they clearly like to be high up. Here a mitten strikes a decidedly defensive pose, or is it conducting events below? Its partner has long disappeared so maybe it is praying for its return? Who knows just what these stray mittens think!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 10

Though few, if any, people continue to use gloves or mitten now that summer has taken hold that does not mean these intrepid items of hand-wear have disappeared entirely from view. They continue to pop up in the oddest places. Here no less a figure than Minnie Mouse decorates a mitten that has found a new home in the sun, with a colourful display of flowers behind. Once again, I am intrigued how such a distinctive mitten could have gone missing.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 9

Despite the warmer weather gloves and mittens continue to go absent without leave, and this particular example I found downright scary. Like a huge, thick spider it's crawled up on to a metal electrical box (perhaps to recharge), and there lies in wait. There's also something of the severed hand of horror movies about its stance. Perhaps that's why my normally steady hand was shaking just a little bit when I snapped this beauty -causing the exposure to be slightly out of focus. This was evening, and the light was though. However, I felt the image was startling enough to share anyway, as yet another example of the wanderlust of lonesome hand-wear.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 8

Time for another example of that tenacious species, the abandoned but wandering glove. This fine specimen has hit the ground and is about to navigate its way across the flow path of a drain –which is fortunately dry here. The glove's innards seem to be emerging from three of the fingers, but perhaps this is a sign of spring! We wish the determined glove bon voyage on it's journey of discovery down the pavement.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 7

Yet another mitten has lost its brother (or sister), this time in the stately setting of the Royal Palace in Oslo –glimpsed here in the background. Could this mitten have belonged to a wandering royal or a clumsy courtier? Now forced to linger atop a rubbish bin (shudder) it nonetheless manages to retain something of a regal state in the way it presents itself to the world, or is it perhaps begging for change so that it may be reunited with its partner...?

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 6

This truant mitten has found a post on which to pose. It may have been assisted to this perch by some "helpful" passer by, but one cannot rule out that it has climbed there itself, to get a better view of its surroundings and perhaps locate its partner –possibly its owner too.In the meantime, it functions as a kind of waving beacon to those battling the wintery conditions of Oslo at this time. And though no hand is currently warmed by its embrace, the post surely must feel lucky to have the luxury of being capped by such a fine mitten!

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 5

A single mitten, lonely and lost, perching recklessly on the corner of a wall next to stairs outside the main library in Oslo on a winter's day. I would imagine that this particular mitten would have belonged to a child, perhaps even now being told off for losing it –or did it merely escape? Again I am fascinated that there should only be one –there almost always is. Is it because gloves are never lost in pairs, or perhaps, if they are, that they are immediately appropriated by someone else –whereas your single mitten or glove is like a forlorn soul, doomed to solitude. We must remember of course, that the moment one glove is lost, both become useless –unless you happen to only have one arm...

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 4

Another glove out on its own in the big world. You'd think that one this bright would have been too conspicuous to lose, but it clearly has a desire to escape and explore. All it needs to do first is to cross this sea of slats. Perhaps in search of its partner, which surely must be equally lonely? wherever it is.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 3

The third in my series of "Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL" -and once again one that has climbed up into a tree to display itself to the world. The leaves may have fallen, but the gloves continue to ascend -or did this one perhaps fall from the sky? Who knows.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL -No 2

The second in my series of "Gloves and Mittens Gone AWOL" -and in this case a particularly fine knitted mitten with a traditional Norwegian design. The mystery remains, how can anyone lose just one of these? And how helpful is it really that people drape them across branches or fences? More to follow.

Location: Oslo, Norway

Gloves and Mittens gone AWOL

With temperatures slowly sinking as the year heads towards winter, I am once again starting to observe the fascinating phenomenon of gloves and mittens gone AWOL. This is quite a curious phenomenon, but once you become aware of it you will begin to notice it more and more, and –in my case– start to collect examples of it, until now it has become a bit of an obsession; whenever I see a case of it, I have to take a photograph. In short, it's the curious discovery anywhere in the urban or rural landscape of a single glove or mitten that has somehow managed to escape its owner (and companion glove or mitten) and gone off on its own, then left or sometimes placed somewhere and seldom reunited with anything other than the elements. Now I can quite understand how someone may lose or forget a pair of gloves, that is very easily done even though that may look like carelessness, but one...? Can that be simply regarded a misfortune? I prefer to think the gloves/mittens are up to something –perhaps one of each pair is sensible and well-behaved and the other is reckless and eager to roam. I will be presenting the evidence under the label "Gloves on the Loose". Not as a public service designed to bring gloves back to their owners (though that would probably be a worthwhile venture), but to show the variety and ingeniousness of these rogue hand garments! Look about you - they're everywhere; perhaps they're even planning to take over the world!

Location: Oslo, Norway