Thousands of farmers milled outside Stormont yesterday urging the Assembly and its Executive to do something - anything - to help their crisis-ridden industry.
One journalist unkindly wondered if the farmers had contracted a dose of the head-staggers. "What are they doing here looking for help from the Executive on the day the Executive is on the verge of collapse?" she inquired reasonably.
St Brigid's Day, the first day of spring, but the talk was of decay, not growth. There was a wintry mood outside and inside Parliament Buildings: crisis for the farmers, crisis for the politicians and the political institutions.
Politicians from all the parties, nationalist and unionist, republican and loyalist, pro- and anti-agreement, gathered outside Stormont with the farmers, but that was the only show of unanimity on a gloomy day. "The last straw" read a protest placard, which seemed to speak for more than the farmers.
David Trimble lamented that he had gambled on government before guns, but two months later where were the weapons? Gerry Adams said republicans were being absolutely true to the agreement. Default? Who, us? Never, was the line from Sinn Fein.
In the corridors of Stormont and in the press room the republican and unionist spinners spun. While the Blame Game was being contested with the commitment of an All-Ireland hurling final, there was a certain sad fatalism to the whole enterprise.
Suspension of the institutions was inevitable, Mr Trimble told reporters during a crowded press conference. However, while he believed the institutions would be suspended the Assembly might meet occasionally to discuss "technical" matters.
Cynical journalists wondered if "technical" issues referred to MLAs continuing to receive their generous monthly pay cheques.
In the marble halls of Parliament Buildings the mood was despairing, but inside the chamber some of the politicians were happy to fiddle away like Nero.
Sammy Wilson of the DUP was in his usual rollicking form, lambasting Sinn Fein for its activities over Msg Denis Faul in Carrickmore and poor old Pushkin in nearby Pomeroy. Normally Sammy irritates Martin McGuinness, but the emotion of the day must have got to the Minister because he thanked the DUP man for his "humorous" contribution.
Danny Kennedy, of the UUP, also referred to the opposition by a local Sinn Fein councillor, Finbar Conway, to the Duchess of Abercorn promoting the Pushkin writing award in Pomeroy. "It was not so much an Aesop's Fable as a Grimm tale," joked Danny.
Danny would never win a Pushkin prize for that gag, said Mr McGuinness.
Peter Weir also cracked a good one when referring to Mr Conway's mistaken belief that the duchess was related to the British royal family. "It's just as well, considering his knowledge of British royalty, that Duke Ellington or Count Basie never visited Pomeroy," he said.
At the end of such a day some black humour was about all that could be hoped for as everyone wondered if the fairytale had come to an end.
