Up...

...is why the monopod fell into disuse. It's just not practical to shoot up or down when the camera is attached directly to a monopod without any sort of head.
I found the old Cullmann monopod in the attic yesterday and attached it to the camera to see what it was like to use. It's fine for 'straight-ahead' shots but that's about it. Might try the tripod ball-head on it to see if that works any better.