Drumcree Church and its environs would make an excellent film set but yesterday there were too many extras and no clear plot. Everybody waited, and nobody knew what would happen. Residents of the Garvaghy Road were convinced Orangemen would get their way. Memories of the past two years were foremost in everybody's mind.
Women in jeans and T-shirts stood at open doors or sat on pavements smoking cigarettes and wishing time away. "It'll go down. I'd bet my income support on it. I'd never trust the British," said one young woman. Inside the small community centre where vegetable soup and tea were being served, locals sat waiting and watched TV on a large screen. One woman was wearing bedroom slippers. Beside her stood one of some 75 "observers", an American woman with dyed blonde dreadlocks.
People had also come from different parts of Ireland. A group of men from Kerry who described themselves as nationalists said they were there "to lend support". They arrived on Friday before the police roadblocks went up. People found different ways to pass the time - a Mills and Boon romance lay on the table - but most people talked about what was happening on the other side. Ms Rosemary Nelson, the solicitor for the Residents' Coalition, said people had every reason to be worried. "It's too relaxed up there. There's no sign of them (the security forces) seriously facing down the Orange Order. Everybody is dead tense. "This community has been taught not to trust. These people are not going to rest easy until the Orangemen go home." Concerns were voiced that the Orangemen didn't appear prepared for a long standoff - there were no chip vans, marquees or tents.
A mother of three children said she was becoming more and more apprehensive. "The Orange Order has never been challenged before, and if they are going to be challenged now, we will see how strong they really are, if they rule the Six Counties or not." Another elderly woman said she feared they would pay the price over the coming weeks if the Orangemen didn't get their way.
As tension rose, rumours abounded. There were reports of more Orangemen arriving from across the North. People speculated that Orange leaders would be getting advice from RUC members on how best to proceed. Residents relied on television to see what the Orangemen were doing, as a buffer or "sterile" zone had been created by security forces between the Drumcree Church and the first nationalist housing estate.
Newly-elected Sinn Fein Assembly members became embroiled in a row with RUC men when they were refused entry into the buffer zone, where more than 100 journalists were watching the Orange parade leave the church.
A police inspector explained to Californian State Senator Tom Hayden why Mr Francie Molloy and Ms Dara O'Hagan of Sinn Fein, and Mr Breandan Mac Cionnaith weren't allowed through. "If these people were to go down, some people on the other side would get very agitated. Feelings are very high and it might inflame the situation. There were people with binoculars on the other side. "
An argument from Mr Molloy that the policeman was an employee of the Assembly fell on deaf ears. "We are not going to antagonise anybody. We feel you are preparing the way to let this parade down, and we want to see the conspiracy unfolding," Mr Molloy said.
Some yards away, four eight-year-old girls were looking up in awe at a young Scottish soldier until he said Ireland hadn't qualified for the World Cup. "Youse were knocked out in the first round" one youngster replied.
Whatever about the conspiracy feared by Mr Molloy, he opted to withdraw and fight another day, preserving some of his sense of humour. "They wouldn't give us their names, but I got the numbers of the Land Rovers, and I told them that when we're considering the pecking order for the new jobs, they wouldn't be very high on the list," he said. Generally there were few jokes on the Garvaghy Road, where TV satellite vans and army jeeps outnumbered private cars. It may have been Orangemen who were behind the barbed wire on this occasion, but residents felt equally helpless. Locals planned to patrol the area through the night to watch any developments and keep youngsters off the streets. The off-licences in the district would remain closed. "The night will tell the tale," a woman said as she walked her dog.