Groundhog Day, Portadown town centre. 9.35 a.m. Very quiet. A sign of the times at St Mark's Church reads `With God U R Never the Weakest Link . . . Goodbye.' In Carleton Street, Orangemen are well outnumbered by media.
Freddie Oliver brandishes his sword in welcome. He's well recovered from his heart problems, but his colleague, Willie Percy, hurt his leg four months ago, so he had to be replaced as second swordsman yesterday.
And . . . it sounded like DUP Assemblyman Paul Berry. The voice is buried under a scrum of reporters and cameras."Bridget Rodgers . . . hypocrisy . . . terrorists in government . . . paramilitaries not helping the cause of Orangemen." It is Paul Berry.
There's no Harold Gracey to proclaim "Urbi et Orbi" from the upper window this year. Deputy District Master David Burrows advises "dignity".
And they're off. In threes. About 1,200 Orangemen follow local officers, Grand Master Robert Saulters, and Armagh County Grand Master Denis Watson. Small crowds on the footpaths are quiet. No cat-calling, no insults to the media.
The parade proceeds to the Corcrain estate where it is greeted by a spatter of applause and UVF flags. A young man wheels a bike ahead with a UDA "Simply the Best" banner flying from its handlebars.
A heavy security presence blocks the entrances to Craigwell and Ballyoran. St John's Catholic Church and its nearby graveyard are hidden from view by screens. The parade passes to Drumgoose Road through leafy countryside, towards Drumcree Church.
The service begins at 11.40 a.m., with the Rev John Pickering reading a message from the Church of Ireland Primate, Archbishop Robin Eames. He reminds the Orangemen that afterwards, "people across the world will associate all your actions with that picture of the church in the background."
At the end, standard-bearers carry out the Portadown ex-servicemen's banner and a Union flag, and all sing God Save the Queen. District Master Harold Gracey rises to thank everyone. He praises the Rev Pickering and his select vestry. At 1.15 p.m. members of Portadown District Lodge walk down the hill. There, policemen emerge to receive a letter of protest from Nigel Dawson.
Grand Master Robert Saulters quotes Edmund Burke on good men and evil, Aristotle on reputation, and the Parades Commission on "prejudice against our people". He asks the Orangemen to "disperse with dignity".
Afterwards, swordsman Freddie Oliver is really looking forward to his Sunday lunch.
And farther up the hill, Mr Pickering and his wife, Olive, have been assumed on a raised platform beside the Church of the Ascension to give a television interview. "I've become a high churchman," he shouts down. So ends Drumcree Seven. Sic transit gloria Sunday.
