01/12/14: Alexandra Grove, Finchley, N12

Found where Alexandra Grove meets Nether Street. Unlikely to play.

29/11/14: Kansas Zac Brown Coldplay

Kansas, Zac Brown and Coldplay seem an improbable combination, but here they are together on a Sony CD-R found in the Boots car park in Whetstone. Unlikely to play.

28/11/14: Will and Grace, series 4, episodes #18–22, Ridgeview Road, N20

Probably not the best place to start for someone new to the series. Unlikely to play.

27/11/14: Maxell CD-R, Stanhope Street, Camden

Yet more evening treasure from Stanhope Street. This unlabelled Maxell CD-R was being slowly covered by mud and leaves.

27/11/14: 100 Anthems: Ibiza and Phill Collins, Fitzroy St, W1

In a deep puddle on Fitzroy Street (opposite Saatchi & Saatchi), between the curb and a white van, I spied two abandoned CDs. Upon their retrieval from the murky depths, these were revealed to be a Datasafe-branded CD-R with "Phill Collins" (sic) written on it, plus "100 Anthems: Ibiza". The large "02" in the centre of the latter indicates that this is disc two of a five-disc set (which, the web reveals, was released in 2008 by Apace Music).

25/11/14: CD 3 Bangla, Stanhope Street, Camden

This Staples CD-R was found on Stanhope Street in Camden in almost the same spot as True Brits and also "Kigdavid If I Die Young". Poor evening light. Although damp from close contact with fallen leaves, it was in surprisingly good condition.

24/11/14: Bashment Nation Old Skool Vs New Skool

Found on the traffic island just outside Mornington Crescent tube station. This disc doubles up as a flyer for a club night from just last Friday. But it's a proper CD, too. Information reads:

"Bashment Nation
Old Skool Vs New Skool

Buy 1 get 1 free
£10 tickets until 1st Nov 2014

Friday 21st November 2014
@Industry Niteclub
2 Chesnut Road N17 9EN

No ID = no entry no exception
11pm–6am door close @2:30 am
#bashmentnation"

This picture looks out of focus. In fact, the ink has run on the disc – making the wording hard to read.

17/11/14: True Brits, Stanhope Street, Camden

Second find of the day. This CD was produced in 2004 by the News of the World newspaper, and found in the gutter just metres from where I found "Kigdavid If I Die Young". The completely random, somewhat horrifying tracklisting runs as follows:
1. Mis-Teeq – "Scandalous"
2. Duran Duran – "New Moon on Monday"
3. Feeder – "Just The Way I'm Feeling"
4. Paul Weller – "Wild Wood"
5. Moloko – "The Time is Now"
6. Toploader – "Dancing in the Moonlight"
7. David Gray – "Sell Sell Sell"
8. Babybird – "You're Gorgeous"
9. Spandau Ballet – "Through the Barricades"
10. The Farm – "All Together Now".
Next to the disc was a plastic CD storage box, empty. Taken at night, this is not the best-quality image.

17/11/14: AppleCare Protection Plan TechTool Deluxe

Unusually, this was on the pavement, rather than in the road. It was at the top of Totteridge Lane in Whetstone, just next to Boots (opposite Ask).

13/11/14: Naylor Road, N20 – second find

"System repair disc" is the text on this CD-R, itself in grave need of repair.

13/11/14: Naylor Road, N20 – first find

As with the clear disc near Regent's Park on 9th July, not a CD as such but the "fake" disc that comes at the top of a CD-R spindle. This has a purple hue. And it looks as though someone has taken a bite out of it.

26/10/14: Paloma kids Akiu labels

An extraordinary month for abandoned CDs continued and concluded with this Tesco CD-R at the edge of the High Road in Whetstone. The writing on the disc appears to say "Paloma kids Akiu labels", but almost certainly doesn't say that. Any ideas?

25/10/14: Country: Modern to Timeless Country Classics (disc one)

Found at the edge of Mays Lane, EN5. No sign of disc two. Released in 1999, this compilation includes Shania Twain, Dixie Chicks, The Mavericks and many others. Highlights (I am checking the tracklisting on Amazon) are "Jolene" by Dolly Parton and "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town" by Kenny Rogers. The lowlights are "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus and "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" by Dr. Hook. Is the latter even country? The disc has sustained some damage, but it's rather attractive. Claw marks?

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 6 of 6: Mavado Mr. Brooks......

Sixth of six CDs on the Great North Road, Hertfordshire, EN5. "Mavado Mr. Brooks......" is written on this Sony CD-R. According to Wikipedia, "Mr. Brooks...A Better Tomorrow is the second studio album by Jamaican artist Mavado. The album was recorded during 2008 and 2009."

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 5 of 6: ASDA

Fifth of six CDs on the Great North Road, Hertfordshire, EN5. An unlabelled ASDA CD-R.

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 4 of 6: Reggae For Cyprus 2011

Fourth of six CDs on the Great North Road, Hertfordshire, EN5. This Sony CD-R, labelled "Reggae For Cyprus 2011", is my favourite of the six. Note the neat handwriting, the carefully inserted "u" in "Cyprus" and the little picture of the sun. You can imagine the owner's optimisim about the holiday and how it might be further enhanced by this compilation.

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 3 of 6: TDK

Third of six discs found on the Great North Road in Hertfordshire, EN5. A TDK CD-R. Unlikely to play.

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 2 of 6: "How High" Signalex DVD

Second of the six discs found in the Great North Road, Hertfordshire, EN5. Not a CD-R, but a DVD-R in the "Signalex" brand. How High was apparently a 2001 romantic comedy directed by Jesse Dylan and starring Method Man and Redman.

19/10/14: Barnet Odeon disc bonanza – 1 of 6: Polaroid

While driving past the Barnet Odeon on the Great North Road, Hertfordshire, EN5, yesterday evening, I spied an entire spindle of abandoned CDs in the middle of the road. There was nowhere to park, and light was fading, so I went back this morning. The spindle had vanished (it would have been a hazard for drivers), but there were still six CDs – scattered a few metres apart – at the edge of the road. This one was an unlabelled Polaroid CD-R.

14/10/14: Capper Street, WC1

This Imation CD-R was in the gutter on Capper Street, WC1, just a metre or so from Tottenham Court Road. The latter is proving to be a fertile source of abandoned CDs and October 2014 has been unusually generous in disc offerings. This one is unlikely to play.

13/10/14: Tottenham Court Road CD-R in the rain

Inches from the gutter of Tottenham Court Road, just outside Warren Street tube station. Unlikely to play.

11/10/14: Philips CD-R, Leisure Way

Just opposite the Vue Cinema and Hollywood Bowl in North Finchley, this Philips CD-R lay on the pavement near the bus stop on Leisure Way. Unlikely to play.

05/10/14: Southover, Woodside Park

Third CD in four days. Incredible. This was on the post of a garden wall facing onto Southover, a road in Woodside Park, N12. Some abandoned discs have a better time of it than others. This unlucky blighter had been separated from its other half, which was nowhere to be seen. Flipping over the disc revealed it to be a Maxell CD-R with nothing written on it.

03/10/14: Iron Age – Concussion of the Brain, Courthouse Road, Finchley, N12

Two abandoned CDs in two days: things are looking up. Iron Age's Concussion of the Brain was found by the kerb on Courthouse Road in Finchley, N12. As well as showing a picture of a brain, the CD lists four tracks:
1. Schizophrenia
2. Brainless
3. Intelligence
4. Mind Control
I am guessing that the genre is heavy metal. The small print shows that this was released on Crossroads Records in 1995.

02/10/14: "Kigdavid If I Die Young", Stanhope Street, Camden

Unmarked Polaroid CD-R found on the kerbside. The insert paper (inside a plastic wallet) says "Kigdavid If I Die Young" and shows a YouTube page that presumably contains the relevant video. According to YouTube, as of today, "Kigdavid If I Die Young" has been viewed 511 times and received 16 thumbs-ups. I haven't done this previously, but for some reason I decided to keep this CD. If you're out there, Kigdavid, and you would like it back, get in touch...

16/09/14: "Mix 18-04-10", Totteridge & Whetstone tube

Found this Tesco CD-R on the corner where the station car park road emerges into Totteridge Lane. Enigmatic. On Sunday 18th April 2010, the main talking point was air-flight disruption owing to eruptions of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull. Thousands of flights were cancelled. The skies were silent, but for the sound of birds. It was a joy to behold. It's nice to think that this mix CD might have been compiled to celebrate that special sense of quiet, while simultaneously erasing it.

15/09/14: Lady fragment, Camden kerb

Who is the mysterious lady with the red flower in her hair? If I knew this, I might be able to work out what the disc is/was.

22/08/14: Sutied & Booted: Disc 1, Llety Brongu, South Wales

"Sutied & Booted: Disc 1", found in a lay-by next to Llety Brongu Farm near Llangynwyd in South Wales. It does actually say "Sutied", not "Suited". No sign of disc 2 or any subsequent volumes.

17/08/14: Dodgy CD, Totteridge

Found in a driveway in Totteridge. The less said about this one the better.

21/07/14: Music down the drain, Hutton Grove, Finchley, N12

What's left of the text suggests something to do with "Philadelphia". But did this TDK disc's contents relate to the city in Pennsylvania, the 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, or the cream cheese? Unlikely to play.

09/07/14: Clear disc near Regent's Park

Strictly speaking, not a CD. It's one of those transparent circles that sits at the top of a CD-R spindle.

21/06/14: In the mud outside Sequoia nightclub, High Road, Whetstone

Sequoia has now closed down. According to the Barnet and Whetstone Press, on 7th April 2014: "Sequoia, in High Road, Whetstone, had its premises licence rescinded following a meeting of the council's Licensing Sub-Committee in Hendon Town Hall, in The Burroughs, last Wednesday... Complaints from residents included noise from the nightclub and from its customers leaving late at night, litter and antisocial behaviour.” Unlikely to play. 

09/06/14: Maxell MQ MasterQuality, edge of Regent’s Park

This Maxell CD-R was found just a few metres away from the "Joody Rahat, Coke Studio" disc, suggesting a connection.

09/06/14: "Joody Rahat, Coke Studio", edge of Regent’s Park

This Verbatim disc was found just a few metres away from the "Maxell MC MasterQuality" CD-R, suggesting a connection.

27/05/14: "Artwork Boys/Men", Tottenham Court Road

Not in good shape at all, this one. What kind of "artwork" of boys/men did this contain?

27/05/14: "Okomo Mountain wing boot replacement" (and nameless pal), Tottenham Court Road

Considering their location in the middle of Tottenham Court Road, these discs were in surprisingly good condition. Why was the labelling so thorough for the Imation disc, but non-existent for the other?

27/05/14: "Anna artworks", Tottenham Court Road

“Anna artworks” are very likely connected with the “Artwork Boys/Men" disc, found just metres away.

27/05/14: "RN 657", Tottenham Court Road

Tottenham Court Road is visible through the Datawrite disc itself. Who or what is "RN 657"? I was nearly run over while taking these pictures in the middle of the road on the way to work. Unlikely to play.

02/05/14: "Sonic Heroes", next to Totteridge & Whetstone tube station

Just down the hill from the tube exit is a block of flats with a small front garden, where I found this Nintendo disc. According to Wikipedia, "Sonic Heroes" is a videogame whose story "follows the journeys of four individual teams of three on their search for the mad scientist Doctor Eggman. However, Sonic the Hedgehog's clone and nemesis, Metal Sonic, is secretly manipulating the game's events in a plan to eradicate his long time foe." Unlikely to play.

26/04/14: "cool music" CD-R, Finchley alleyway

Found in a narrow gap between garages on Montrose Crescent, N12. The surface of this Imation disc is "bubbling". Rather attractive. Unlikely to play.

12/04/14: "Theory Test" CD-R, verge next to Waitrose, Whetstone

Discarded before or after the test took place?

01/04/14: White disc with blue/green-ish label, Stanhope Street, Camden

As the sticker ink blurs in the moisture of a Camden flat's garden, any indication of what was contained on this otherwise unlabelled CD is lost forever.

29/03/14: Pirate software CD-R (Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator) with mud, Waitrose car park, Whetstone

Well labelled, if not well looked after.

23/02/14: Mill Hill Park CD-R

A psychedelic rainbow of colours is nicely offset by green Arabic lettering.

20/02/14: Puddle disc pair, Drummond Street, NW1

Neither of these are likely to play.

11/02/14: "The Very Best of Pure R&B: The Summer Collection 2003" (CD1), Waitrose car park, Whetstone

Near the recycling bins in the Waitrose car park. Sticker reads “£0.20p”. CD2 nowhere to be seen.