A splendid vision well worth feel-good factor

As a former prime minister might have said, any boss who sacked a worker for not turning up to work yesterday is a bum.

There would have been more than a few sickies, extended smokos or lunch breaks among the crowds who thronged the city.

In an event expected to trump the 500,000 who watched the 1983 America's Cup victory parade, the true magic flowing through these creations of Royale de Luxe is of our own making.

This job is meant to call for some professional journalistic detachment but the emotional kick of a show like The Giants is just too intense.

Hardened sceptics surprised themselves by the extent to which they were moved by the experience of walking with the Little Girl.

The sweat-soaked Lilliputians may provide the kinetic energy to keep their Giants moving but it is the radiant joy and wonder of the audience that has invested their theatrical constructions with their magic. Life is breathed into the Giants by the collective will of the people.

There is a weird alchemical effect when thousands of people focus on something as strange and wonderful as this, a collective suspension of disbelief that can fuel the reimagining of an entire city.

It took longer than expected to get under way yesterday, leaving some people frazzled in the humid conditions.

But the pay-off came once the Little Girl stirred into action and - like a Pied Piper of string and wood - led us through the streets.

It may seem churlish to some people and utterly critical to others to mention the cost of the show.

For those raising eyebrows, the $2 million State Government investment, less than 40 per cent of the total price tag, amounts to about 80¢ per person in WA, or less than 27¢ each a day for the three-day event.

What it is worth to our sense of ourselves - and the opportunity to see such a splendid vision brought to life - is incalculable.