AND so we bid farewell to Peter Robinson, amid tears, flag waving and a quick sing song led by Willie McCrea, the DUP leader finally got to make the exit he'd planned over a year ago.
I liked party conference Peter, he was upbeat and full of positivity about the future, telling all who would listen about what a strong position he'd led the DUP to and how secure the union was as he handed over the mantle of power.
It's a pity he hadn't told that to the flag protesters who were wrecking the place three years ago, instead then pessimistic Peter was full of doom, gloom and foreboding about how republicans were threatening Protestant culture and identity as he did his best Dr Ian Paisley impression.
Party conference Peter even told a wee joke at the Ulster Unionist Party's expense. It wasn't very funny, he should leave the stand up to Sammy Wilson, but at least he made the effort to crack a smile.
There was no such vitriol for Sinn Féin, with whom the DUP have just entered into a questionable two party ''fresh deal'. Which begs the question, what was all that in out ministerial hokey cokey about?
Fear of Mike Nesbitt to the right and Jim Allister to the far, far off in the distance right has left the DUP in something of a tailspin.
Their unlikely saviours came in the form of Sinn Féin who agreed a deal that helped keep the DUP in power but broke previous electoral promises signing welfare back to Westminster.
And on that note consider this, the welfare bill agreed as part of the fresh start and rushed through the House of Commons on Monday night was not drawn up overnight but had to have been drafted and agreed - on the British side at least - long before the fresh deal announcement.
So what concessions did our locally elected representatives actually achieve if any?
The Green Party have claimed the public have been 'conned' with Stephen Agnew saying the additional £90 million cushion is simply the existing hardship fund repackaged.
We await clarification on just how much of anything was achieved, however, I will be phoning Paddy Power for a price on People Before Profit's Gerry Carroll taking an assembly seat in west Belfast.
If the young left wing candidate, popular with first time voters, can't make electoral capital out of this particular episode then he shouldn't be in politics.
And back to the DUP conference, loyal party members clapping away like performing seals, nodding and applauding party conference Peter's every word. There were even a few tears.
There was also fake sentiment from some party members who have been briefing journalists against their master and chief for well over a year now. The same people who said privately if he wasn't gone by Christmas they'd move against him.
Once credited as one of the most able, political strategists of his time Peter Robinson made that common but fatal mistake in politics of not knowing when it was time to go.
He could have left after the Iris situation - which we're not meant to mention any more - no one would have blamed him. But instead he steeled it out with a few carefully choreographed interviews and carried on.
Then there was the ill health, again no one would have held it against him but he came back from that only to see the loyalist protesters he refused to condemn in return for their votes in east Belfast turn on him as Jamie Bryson started leaking details and allegations linked to the Nama property sale.
And then there's Ruth Patterson who has been speaking to any journalist who will listen about how she was shafted to make way for 'blow in' Emma Pengelly.
Any point she may have been trying to make about the former special adviser not having a mandate lost as she appears increasingly bitter while Ms Pengelly maintains a dignified silence.
And what of Peter Robinson's ermine robed retirement plan, scuppered if Private Eye are to be believed over a rescinded offer for a place in the House of Lords?
Although on that score he can take comfort in the words of the late great Tony Benn who once said: "The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians".
I get the impression Peter Robinson is more of a Florida Keys man.
