Gordon Brown has been Britain's prime minister for over a month. And he's doing better than most people - perhaps himself included - expected, suggests James Helm.
Catastrophic floods, attempted terror attacks, a diplomatic spat with Russia and a tricky first trip across the pond to see President Bush: as Gordon Brown heads off on his summer holidays, he can reflect on some of the early challenges he has had to grapple with.
If, after all those long years of waiting for his moment to arrive, Mr Brown was hoping for a quiet few weeks in which to get his feet under his Number 10 desk, then it hasn't worked out that way.
Of course Brown, an arch-strategist, will have left little to chance as he prepared to take over from Tony Blair. One of the immediate differences between life as chancellor and as prime minister, however, is that for the past decade he could plan strategically, formulate policy and spending plans, and assess the full economic picture. Brown's Britain has been shaken by failed bombings, then deluged by rain, and he has had to react quickly and effectively to rapidly-changing events beyond his control.
As he arrived in the job on June 27th, Brown turned his old school motto, "I will try my utmost" into a statement of intent. He also repeatedly used the word "change". Back in Britain from Ireland this week, I couldn't spot too many radical changes.
England lost at cricket. The sun made only a fleeting appearance. But the media coverage of Brown's start has been largely positive, and some people are noticing a different approach.
My experience of the Blair era came early on: I was outside Blair's constituency home in Co Durham on that momentous election night in 1997.
Through the curtains I spotted the man about to become prime minister standing over Alastair Campbell as his spokesman typed out what may well have been the victory speech.
After a stint at Westminster as New Labour bedded down in power, I followed Tony Blair's battle bus around the country for the duration of the 2001 UK general election, pumping out live TV "two-ways" from the campaign trail for 24-hour news stations.
As our coach toured central England for weeks, the gathered journalists from around the world would discuss the political and communication skills of Blair, and the tactics of his press team. It was an impressive, hands-on operation to watch.
Brown's interview style is very different from that of his predecessor. It's not sparkling, but it can be effective. In The Times, one sketch writer even put it like this: "Brown is inspiringly rubbish at the theatre of his new job, faultlessly uncomfortable."
Under questioning, he sticks to his theme and to his chosen phrases, eventually battering his interviewer - and possibly the audience - into submission.
And so, on his arrival, the message about "change" signalled a new broom, a not-so-subtle farewell to Tony. Ah, said many sceptical commentators, this talk of an "end of spin" is itself spin. Is there any real sign, for example, of a new approach to dealing with the media under Gordon Brown? I asked a former colleague, Guto Harri, political correspondent for the BBC. He says the mood has changed, that in his experience there is less desire to micro-manage the media.
On a recent Sunday shift, he took only a single call from the Number 10 press office, a polite request about whether he would be reporting a particular (favourable) opinion poll. That was a step change from the previous era, Harri says, when "it was a very aggressive and pro-active pressure".
This week's visit to meet President Bush was a case in point. In the Blair days, Guto Harri believes, the Downing Street press machine would have gone into overdrive in advance of the trip. This time, there was one, "on-the-record" statement from Number 10 prior to Brown's departure and - despite repeated pleas - no filming opportunities for the TV cameras.
The style is different: an understated shade of Brown is in. Where the Blairs once headed to the villas of wealthy friends in the sun, the new PM and his family are taking their summer break in the UK. But it would be plain wrong to think that this government, with a figure in charge who has himself been accused of "control freakery", of applying plenty of spin as chancellor, doesn't gauge the media mood and sometimes try to manage it.
So how has he done? Far better than he must have wished for in his wildest dreams. The "Brown bounce" has been startling. The recent polls suggest a yawning gap has opened up between Labour and the Conservatives. It has gone so well for the government that there is even talk of Brown calling a snap October election in order to establish his own mandate.
The groundwork is being laid, although a date next year is more likely. As Trevor Kavanagh, hardly known as a Labour man, put it recently in the Sun: "Gordon Brown is going to win - and win big."
Having worked in continuous news for the BBC, I was fascinated by Gordon Brown's first test. After the attempted bombings in London, Brown emerged and spoke to a nervous public straight down the lens of a TV camera. His tone and delivery were calm but firm. In tough times, the "dourness" that became something of a descriptive cliche, may actually be one of Brown's key political strengths.
As one Westminster hack put it to me, "Yes, he's a bit boring, but there's something about that deep, gravelly voice that's reassuring to the British public."
What has been surprising has been the extent of the bounce, and what has happened to the Conservative party in the meantime. A week, as we know, is a long time in politics, but five weeks is an absolute age.
Brown is riding high, while the Tories have suffered the sort of thoroughly miserable summer matched only by the weather.
David Cameron's seemingly golden touch deserted him in a row over education policy, and some in his party rebelled. When the floods hit, leaving parts of his own constituency under water, Cameron headed to Rwanda on a well-intentioned but unfortunately-timed trip to learn about Africa's problems.
The sniping is under way, and Cameron must now reassert his authority if he is to stand much chance whenever the election comes.
Many Tories were probably relishing Gordon Brown's arrival as a huge opportunity, assuming that a weary public would see him as an unattractive option, an unelected PM who represented "more of the same" after the Blair years. The problem for the Tories now is that in Cameron they are seen as having an inexperienced leader who may be a moderniser, but who embraces PR too keenly: a kind of "Blair-lite".
There have been some mis-steps, one of them being Brown's cringe-inducing answer in the House of Commons to a question on terrorism from David Cameron, protesting that he had only just got the job. This is summertime, or what passes for it, and the mood, as well as the polls, may change again just as quickly once MPs return in the autumn. Big challenges lie ahead for him - what to do about British troops in Iraq, for example - and the gloss could quickly wear off.
As Brown chooses between the latest Harry Potter or Alastair Campbell's fascinating diaries for his holiday reading, he can also reflect on things having gone well for him so far. With all the water around, plus everything else, the son of a church minister has had a baptism of the full-immersion variety.
James Helm was the BBC's Dublin correspondent from 2002-2007. Stephen Collins will resume Inside Politics in mid-September