I wrote an entry on La Machine when it was here but for some reason it was never published which is rather annoying.

I have to admit I was a bit dubious at first. I wasn't sure £1.8 million on a mechanical spider from France was going to be worth it.
Even when I did my first video as it was 'asleep' on Concourse tower when it had mysteriously appeared over night I had my doubts.
I know the public weren't expecting it but I thought word would have spread quickly and that there would be hundreds, thousands even watching it. There was on that morning no one but the usual commuters.
On the Thursday, however, I was surprised how many people were there to watch it come off that tower. From that moment on Spider fever hit Liverpool and I became a believer!
Thinking about what Phil Redmond said to me about commerce from culture he was right. When I was filming on the Saturday there were thousands of people packed into Water Street, Castle Street, Lords Street. I hadn't seen that many people in Liverpool since the opening weekend. It was amazing and like Phil said if everyone there bought a coffee or used public transport that spider more than paid for itself.
There were things that could have been done better, children did get squashed together and I even got pulled backwards by the crowd as I tried to get to the media area.
I had a birds eye view of the spider walking up Water Street and Castle Street as I was filming from on top of the town hall which was cold but pretty awesome!
I was in a good position to see the bride who was getting married at the town hall arrive with her police escort! Doubt there will be any reason for me to have a police escort when I get married next year.
She looked so made up and didn't mind one bit having to walk through the crowds who parted to let her through and clapped her in. After the ceremony and the couple appeared on the balcony thousands of people cheered and wished them. What a start to the marriage!
Sadly I missed the Sunday as I went to Ireland first thing on holiday for two weeks. Below is the video I did from the Saturday.

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