Full circle with Eros and Dawn French

It's the first weekend of Summer 2006 in England. While June 1 was freezing cold, today was wonderful. The sun was hot, with a cloudless blue sky. Garry and I caught the tube into town to do some shopping around lunchtime. However, upon reaching Piccadilly Circus we abandoned our plans and spent the day wandering the Thames.

Our first landmark was the statue of Eros at Piccadilly Circus. The fountain in its base was working - well - a slow trickle. I've wandered past this site for 15 years and never seen a drop of water until today. Eros is officially known as The Angel of Christian Charity. It crowns a memorial erected in 1893 to commemorate the philanthropic work of Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (1801-1885). At the time the use of a nude figure on a public monument caused huge controversy. No doubt today's shirtless tourists at its base would have never been allowed.

From Eros, we wandered down Regent Street towards the Mall. Here you could preparations for the annual Queen's Birthday Trooping the Colour parade scheduled for June 17. This colourful ceremony was moved to a summer date by Edward VII (reigned 1901-1910) in the hope of good weather. Today, large Union Jack flags festooned the entire length of the Mall.

A quick diversion through St James Park took us to the steps of Westminster Abbey. We joined the throng of tourists here to take our own iconic London photo of Ben Big, a red double-decker bus and the London Eye. We've yet to take a look inside the Abbey but certainly will at some point.

Outside the Palace of Westminster (more commonly called the houses of parliament) a usual scattering of eclectic protesters were in action. Today's selection included demonstrations against the war in Afghanistan, support for the rebels in Sierra Leone and three men who'd chained themselves to the wrought iron fence protesting human rights in Azerbaijan. Big Ben seemed rather dull in comparison.

From here we headed south along the north bank of the Thames, passing ever lengthening queue for riverboat tours, the London Eye and the numerous war memorials. Two particular memories always capture my imagination.

The first is a small plaque next to an ancient Egyptian obelisk. The brass inscription draws your attention to the jagged edge of the marble plinth above and damage to a resting sphinx. This damage was caused by a bomb that fell on September 4, 1917. This marked the start of the first German air raid on London during World War One. The second memorial further north commemorates another famous series of air raids, namely the Battle of Britain, which took place during the Second World War. The battle took place largely in the skies over Southern England between July 9 and October 31, 1940.

Both wars remain very real in London. You're always reminded to watch for gas mains and water lines when digging up Sydney streets. In London the danger is far greater. This week an unexploded bomb was removed from a building sight in central London, while last week an a similar hazard weapon was removed from nearby Portsmouth harbour. Watch where you dig!

We then took a brief detour into the Courts of the Temple. The circular church here has become a popular tourist destination thanks to Dan Brown's best-selling novel, The DaVinci Code. The startling revelation of a central character's divine bloodline takes place inside this building. Unfortunately we'd arrived too late to view the interior. The Temple Church is a late 12th century church built for the Knights Templar. This order of knights was created after the First Crusade to protect pilgrims that journeyed to Jerusalem after its conquest.

Our final stop along the Thames was the Millennium Foot bridge that crosses the Thames between St Pauls Cathedral and the monolithic Tate Modern gallery. I love this bridge. It's a steel suspension bridge built to commemorate the new millennium. It opened on June 10, 2000 but was closed two days later by a significant design fault known to engineers as resonant structural response. In essence, the bridge began to sway violently side to side as more and more people attempted to cross it.

This movement was unexpected. In fact, engineers had never seen a suspension bridge sway sideways before. Typically, they battle vertical oscillations. The experience caused engineers worldwide to take a closer look at other suspension bridges. They discovered a number of bridges with the same issue, albeit on a smaller scale. Many of the world's suspension bridges now sport lateral dampeners designed to inhibit this motion. The Millennium Foot bridge was the first such bridge to receive a retrofit.

At this point, we'd walked more than four miles. It was time for a well earned rest. We made our way via tube back to Leicester Square for an early dinner at Pizza Hut. It was then off to the Lyric Theatre for an evening performance of Smaller, a simple yet emotional comedy, starring Dawn French and Alison Moyet as two sisters experiencing the last days of their mother's life. Dawn is renown for her popular television series, The Vicar of Dibley, and Alison for her hit single, Weak In The Presence of Beauty. It's always fascinating to see actors from film and television in the flesh. Dawn was as witty on stage as she is in Dibley. A true comedian.

Dawn plays the daughter that stayed home to nurse "your poor old, widowed, disabled mother", while Alison plays the daughter that left to "shag and yodel her way across four continents." The plays had several memorable belly laughs. The only real disappointment was the seating. The rows are narrow and I spent most of the evening with my knees pressed against the row in front and my elbows buried in my neighbour’s ribs. I imagine this is what an Easyjet flight feels like.

To complete our day, we walked back to Piccadilly Circus, briefly took in the neon signs at night and then caught the tube home. Our day ended as it had started, with Eros silently shooting arrows past billboards for TDK, Sanyo and Coke.