Unionists need not fear. If the DUP's political clout with the British government is anything like its carbon footprint, the union is safe.
As the party's 120-strong executive dispersed in the spring sunshine, a long line of impressive cars lined up to leave. There were grand Rovers, gleaming SUVs, people carriers, big Audis, Mercs, sporty little runabouts and guzzling 4x4s. In short, enough CO2 emissions to fog any government plan.
Doing things their way - and not Peter Hain's - seemed to be what this was all about.
The meeting was mercifully short. Many of us were ready for another marathon stakeout at another peace process meeting, anticipating another little lifetime of waiting.
But the end came out of nowhere, a bit like a Republic of Ireland goal, and well before the clocks went forward.
After a mere 5½ hours the leadership emerged in a spirit of unity that would shame the Irish squad.
"We in Ulster are in a serious state," said the Doc gravely. On either side were Gregory Campbell, who is cautious about sharing power with the Shinners any time soon, and ditto Nigel Dodds. On this occasion, he flashed so many teeth in the one grin it had to be a record.
"We have a dictation from the government about things that the people resent. The Ulster people will be persuaded, but they're not going to be driven," Big Ian said. "I think very clearly the prime minister will have to respond and I believe he will respond."
With claims that the ball was clearly in the Blair court, the smiling DUP men headed for their (big) cars, the day's work done. It seemed that nine DUP MPs could actually tell the two governments where to get off.
Somebody reported that Sinn Féin had expressed some rage, but there developed a sense that if a few more weeks were needed to get this tedious yet fascinating process over the line, then so be it. Hain's "devolution or dissolution on Monday" stance appeared to be under some threat, so phone calls were made to see what the Northern Secretary had to say.
It seemed he wasn't having a good day - and it was about to get a good deal worse.
Liberated from the great DUP stakeout, there was enough time to catch the second half of the soccer at Croker. Not a good day at all to be Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, and for Wales.