A "BLIP" was how the Ulster Unionist Party leader, Mr David Trimble, explained Sinn Fein's record vote in the local government elections. As Winston Churchill might have said: "Some vote, some blip".
The two main unionist parties, the UUP and the DUP, put as cheerful a complexion as possible on their performance. But no makeup could disguise the fact that the overall appearance of mainstream unionism was rather blemished when the votecounting finally finished yesterday evening.
The old order changeth. Most dramatically, unionists lost their overall majority on Belfast City Council. Sinn Fein now has the same number of seats as the UUP there. Thirteen, lucky for some indeed.
It was a day in which unionism learned that in Belfast and elsewhere new arrangements and accommodations will have to be forged. And that Sinn Fein will be a big player, much to the disgust of unionism.
Alliance, with six seats, effectively holds the balance of power in Belfast. The party generally held its position in the last local elections, although its overall tally of seats was down from 45 to 41.
For the UUP and the DUP it was gloomy elsewhere as well. Unionists lost their overall majority in Fermanagh. It was the same story in Strabane, and in Cookstown. All told the UUP lost 12 seats, dropping from 197 four years ago to 185 yesterday. The DUP lost 13 seats. Their total was reduced from 104 to 91.
Gospel singer the Rev William McCrea of the DUP at least stormed back with a high vote on Magherafelt Council, having lost his Mid Ulster Westminster seat to Mr Marlin McGuinness of Sinn Fein.
Had he found time to sing H.F. Lyte's great hymn it would have been a fitting unionist anthem for the day: "Change and decay in all around I see, O Thou who changest not, abide with me".
Mr Trimble was keeping the faith. He blamed the unionist showing on voter apathy and Sinn Fein's successes on alleged electoral malpractice, and Mr John Hume cosying up to Mr Gerry Adams.
"In difficult circumstances we have pretty well held our ground and made some significant advances. It has been a good day for us in that sense," said Mr Trimble, referring to the UUP vote being only down by about 1.4 per cent.
He professed not to be alarmed by Sinn Fein's high poll. "I think Sinn Fein's vote in the local elections and in the general election is just a product of false hopes raised during the peace process. If that is punctured then we will see this balloon punctured also," he told BBC Radio Ulster.
"Nationalists may have voted for them in the belief that they are changing into a normal party. But I don't think they are capable of doing so. I don't think we are speaking here of a permanent change, but a blip."
The DUP, whose vote was down by less than 2 per cent, also complained of unionist voter apathy handing the advantage to Sinn Fein. Mr Nigel Dodds, the party secretary, had warned repeatedly before the election that if unionists did riot get out and vote they would pay the price politically.
He also complained that the high profile accorded Sinn Fein on polling day by meetings with British officials and Dr Mo Mowlam's visits to nationalist residents' groups presented Sinn Fein with an unfair and possibly illegal electoral advantage.
Election fatigue and unionist voter apathy certainly was a factor, but the question for mainstream unionism must also be how to improve its electoral machine, and galvanise unionists out of their torpor.
Equally, they must consider whether hardline stances on issues such as Drumcree were counterproductive, in that they also hardened the attitude of nationalists who, unlike unionists, voted in large numbers.
The UUP and DUP could also take lessons from the fringe loyalist parties, the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) and the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP), which did get the vote out. Between them they won 10 seats - six for the PUP, four for the UDP - prompting Mr David Ervine to complain that the qualification "fringe" should no longer be applied to them.
It was apparent, too, that while the bulk of their support came in working class loyalist areas they also won votes in leafy middle class locations. Their self confident affirmative unionism married to their potential willingness to find accommodation with all shades of nationalism may also have been a factor in their high vote.
The UK Unionist MP for North Down, Mr Robert McCartney, also had reason to be well pleased with the final result. His party won four seats, three in North Down and one in Castlereagh. But overall for unionists it was a day in which they witnessed the green machine of nationalism edging further into their traditional orange power bases.
