My guess is that a child was carrying it on her way to the local primary school, perhaps for some kiddy celebration, and had let it go and lost it.
It put me in mind of the marvellous Ivor Cutler's poem The Shapely Balloon, set to his harmonium playing:
"Mammy, I want a balloon"
"A balloon? What do you want a balloon for, son?"
"To play with"
"To play with? Do you think I'm going to lay out good money so that you can play with a balloon? Certainly not. Start again"
"Mammy, I want a balloon"
"A balloon? What for, son?"
"I'm hungry"
"Alright. Here's thrupence, go and buy one"
"Thank you my mummy" ...
... "I'm hungry for a balloon. That's not going to assuage my hunger"
"Assuage? Don't you use these dirty words in my shop. Get out, go on, get out of my shop! Assuage indeed, I don't know what the younger generation is coming to!"
"Mammy, look. A thrupenny balloon. It's the right shape, but look at the size!"
"That's not going to assuage your hunger"
"That's what I said to the man, and he got furious and drove me out of the shop and told me not to use these words. What'll I do, mammy?"
"Why don't you sit down and shut up? Can't you see I'm writing your auntie Mildred a poem for her wooden anniversary?"
The full story is well worth a visit and can be found here .
I was most fortunate to have attended an Ivor Cutler concert at Edinburgh University in the late 1970s, it was quite the wondrous event.