7.30 a.m. on the Garvaghy Road yesterday and already the day was being boldly marked out. The boom of the Lambeg drums carried loudly as the lodges in Portadown District converged on Carleton Street.
Their journey to Killylea, where the Armagh County Twelfth was taking place, had begun.
All else was quiet on the Garvaghy Road. A spume of jetblack smoke was still rising from the morning-after-the-night-before bonfire on the Corcrain Estate. At Carleton Street, the Orangemen, in their suits, sashes, bowlers and brollies, laid their banners against a wall . . . Derrycarne "Bible and Crown Defenders"; "Drumharrif Star of Erin", and "Corcrain Purple Rocket", with their biblical scenes and portrayals of King William. The noise of accordions, bagpipes, fifes and lambegs was so intense it suggested why Northerners pronounce the town `Portadin'.
At 8.40 a.m. they were off, led by standard bearers and ex-servicemen to the war memorial in the town centre. There, district master Harold Gracey and others laid poppy wreaths to the memory of the dead. The Last Post was played and the British national anthem.
It was followed by a minute's silence, which was interrupted by rock muzak from a nearby (closed) shopping centre. "My baby does the hanky panky . . . I saw him walking down the line," sang a female voice to the sound of electric guitars.
Polite crowds lined the streets as the marchers made their way across the Bann bridge to Edenderry Orange Hall, where blue Ulster buses were waiting to take them to Killylea.
In the afternoon, all was quiet on Drumcree hill. There were some cars and members of the local Breigh lodge who had decided to spend their day on the hill out of solidarity.
"Enniskeen on tour", "East Belfast supports Drumcree", " F...k the Pope" read some banners.
Jackie (no surname given) of Breigh lodge said, "I call him Billy Lundy". He was referring to First Minister David Trimble. "This place made him. I have him on video, in there in the graveyard," he said.
Two large vehicles with tinted glass pulled in further down the hill and four unrecognised men got out. Members of the House of Commons Select Committee on Northern Ireland had arrived to see Drumcree for themselves.
By early evening, Portadown had about it the languid stupor of a sunny Sunday afternoon. But not for long. The sound of distant lambegs disturbed the air. They `boys' were back in town. They paraded in from their buses at Brownstown. By 5.30 p.m., they were at the West End bar. The clientele watched, glasses in hand.
Hundreds had begun to line the streets and they clapped politely. In the breeze, banners struggled ferociously with their bearers, throwing some around with embarrassing ease.
And there was a standoff to complete the day. An RUC jeep had its nose jutting into the path of the parade from Edward Street as the Orangemen approached. District secretary Nigel Dawson stopped the parade and urged the RUC to pull back. They did, a little.
Mr Dawson got onto his mobile phone. Minutes later, the jeep retreated but It stalled. "Back, back...", he indicated, but they would not move. He was on his mobile again. Eventually, it pulled away. There was loud cheering and applause as the parade set off again for Carleton Street Orange Hall.
