A year ago, Northern Ireland’s silent Assembly at Stormont once more began echoing to the sound of MLAs “hitting the ground running”.
The stampede failed to last and, before long, the straying began across the plains.
All very predictable, but nonetheless disappointing.
The shiny new coating could not cover the spluttering of the engine for long.
They may not have been a match for ‘the chuckle brothers’ of the former Paisley/McGuinness tandem, but First Minister Michelle O’Neill and Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly have been willing to share the stage, and share it well.
But their performances in those roles can only go so far if the material delivered by the Executive which they lead is lacking in substance.
And that’s been the biggest issue. It’s all well and good saying what needs to happen, but when the money isn’t there, things become problematic.
That’s when the smiles fade away and the harsh realities of the begging bowl come into play.
There was no point in going to the Stormont cupboard — it was bare.
Any notions of making unpopular decisions, like bringing in water charges, hiking rates and raising tuition fees for students, were all quickly dismissed.
Instead, attention turned elsewhere for the cash injection to sustain a reformed Executive, and those eyes continue to scan the horizon for assistance which our own government should be providing themselves.
The idea of a Casement Park rebuild in time for Euro 2028 quickly fell away.
Any notion of a major investment to cut waiting times in the health service receded into a battle to simply keep things as they are.
The longer the year progressed, the more it seemed that there was no contingency plan for those emergencies that crop up, other than to send out appeals for financial aid.
However, there have been sporadic sprinkles of achievement.
Finally, a firm commitment to improvements on the A5 from Londonderry to Aughnacloy — with a little help from the bulging coffers south of the border (though that is once more bogged down in legalities), and measures to address the desperate need of our special education sector.
But even those are in danger of being lost in the cracks that are appearing everywhere else.
While they do say ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’, the ‘please, sir, can we have some more?’ approach to government is growing tiresome.
One thing that has been proven, though, is that honeymoon periods only last for a couple of weeks.
The daily grind of everyday married life is something that has to be worked at if it’s to stay the course.
And occasionally, a new idea needs to be brought to the table in order to spice things up.
On the day of Stormont’s return last year, a front-page editorial in this newspaper declared that what was required was a “government which starts by sorting out the main problems affecting society, from health to education to infrastructure”.
Footing the bill for what needs to be done has been a difficult obstacle to clear, and last week we were back begging, with NIE urged to step in to provide support for families left without power in the aftermath of Storm Éowyn.
Even that would, likely, end up being self-defeating. We all pay for power, and in the end, we all know we will foot the bill for any compensation if it comes.
Those new ideas must be brought to the table. Hard decisions have to be made. Politics here needs to be no longer a popularity contest, but a commitment from all to sort out the ills afflicting every one of us.
If there’s limited financial help from elsewhere, the only choice is to at least try to help ourselves.