It was the day of Little Orphan Annie, political hijackers, a cute ambush, and unionists tearing into each other while Sinn Fein and the SDLP looked on with bemused, sometimes amused, interest.
It was odd. Apart from some hissing and tutting in the public gallery, Gerry Adams had a quiet audience. Unionists were sullen and indifferent, SDLP members fairly attentive, but at least there wasn't the barracking, guffawing and occasional bouts of unparliamentary language that characterised many of the exchanges in the expanding strands of the unionist family.
David Ervine of the Progressive Unionist Party noted unionists could grant their bete noire, Mr Adams, normal, if unintended, parliamentary courtesy, but in-house they were verbally slugging it out like bitter prize-fighters. "The people outside will be interested to hear of the degree of credibility you afford this man," said Mr Ervine, facing Mr Adams to his right.
The main rows were between the two pro-Belfast Agreement unionist parties (PUP and UUP), and the growing (now four) anti-agreement unionist parties, and more subtly even between unionists on the No side.
It must have been galling for Robert McCartney to give way in the order of speakers to the new Northern Ireland Unionist Party, made up of his four former colleagues in his UK Unionist Party and now led by Cedric Wilson. Mr McCartney is now the sole UKUP Assembly member.
Body language told much. On the front benches Mr McCartney was seated beside his erstwhile ally, Mr Wilson, but through careful bodily posture and shifting of seats, they were positioned almost back-toback.
Reg Empey of the Ulster Unionist Party - introduced to mock-impressed oohhs and aahhs as Sir Reg Empey by the presiding officer, John Alder dice, himself a noble lord - was in no mood to spare Mr McCartney's feelings.
As he addressed the report designed, eventually, to lead to devolution and new NorthSouth and British-Irish structures, Sir Reg was interrupted by Mr McCartney who, in British parliamentary tradition, asked the speaker to "give way".
"Ah, poor little Orphan Annie is making a comment," said the recently titled UUP man.
