Oxford Canal

The monument supporting me had six such beams, arranged like spokes on a wheel around a circular brick centre.

A plaque in the middle commemorated 200 years of the Oxford Canal.

It was built at the modern terminus of the canal, the very end of the man-made waterway originally dug to carry coal to the city.

As I lay there, speaking on the phone with a dear friend named Joe, I realized I had reached a dead end too.