Leaning out of a boat I forget that my mobile phone is in my top pocket. The angle of the phone’s fall changes as it breaks the surface of the canal – its vertical plunge flattening to become a shallow dive away from the boat. As it enters the oily water, the backlit display illuminates and I watch the glowing buttons getting dimmer as they glide deeper into the green.
Later I discover that I can still call my number and imagine the phone ringing amongst the detritus in the night time of the mud. I change my message. ‘You’ve reached my mobile phone, currently sitting at the bottom of the Regents Canal – please don’t leave a message here’.