Back in the late 1990s, when Drumcree and the Garvaghy road were headlines in ink that never went dry, the Echo featured a front page cover photo for the top drawer archives.
It was a photo of tiny Drumcree church with the headline "All Quiet In Drumcree." This was a reference to the fact that there had been no violence in the vicinity of the church, or nearby Garvaghy Road.
But the photo also delivered a clear picture of the day that was in it, of those pre-peace process times. Hovering over the church was a massive British Army troop-carrying helicopter.
Fast forward to 2026 and the troops are gone. In their place in recent days were members of the Police Service of Northern Ireland. They were deployed between members of the Orange Order and the nationalist residents of Garvaghy Road.
There was, thankfully, little sense that police officers might be needed to deal with violent confrontation. This was, at time of writing, a standoff. And those taking part were indeed standing, or sitting down in the late September sunshine.
Do we call this progress? Well yes if we are leaning in the direction of hoping for a solution that works, even if it doesn't satisfy the would-be Orange Order marchers and the defiant residents.
But that's a very narrow band in terms of progress. The bigger picture is that we are back to a situation where the Orange Order has insisted that it wants to march in a place where its members know they are not welcome.
They have not so much thrown down a gauntlet as those white gloves they wear along with sashes and bowler hats.
And this is very definitely not progress; quite the opposite.
The Orange Order holds numerous parades across Northern Ireland in any given year. Indeed, the Order marches south of the border in the Republic. And there's little or no fuss raised.
But Drumcree is different. And Orange Order leaders well know it.
The day will come, at some point in the future, when Orange parades will take place in a reunited Ireland. They will be festive and fun for all to watch because the old dagger of triumphalism will no longer be a factor as it has been for all too many years.
These marches will occur under a new banner with an old slogan: "parity of esteem."
How far into the future are we hopefully looking? It would be hard to put a precise number of years on it. But we are looking, and it is a better future on offer.
Unlike right now in Portadown, County Armagh when it is truly a case of marching backwards to no future at all.
We can only hope that those better angels of our collective nature will prevail in the air over tiny Drumcree church. We've had enough of helicopters.
