It was a tale of two impasses. Drumcree overrode the formation of an executive for most of the day. Nationalists of various shades muttered darkly about how David Trimble had successfully rerouted the negotiations as well as the two prime ministers down what they regarded as a political cul-de-sac.

Reports emanating from the Drumcree talks during the day suggested the UUP leader had proposed having Orange feet on Garvaghy Road this year in return for a civic forum and a substantial cash injection to the area. Whatever the inducements, they were insufficient for the beleaguered residents.

Round-table meetings were postponed while Mr Blair and Mr Ahern went off to do their bit for the cause of peace and reconciliation between Breandan Mac Cionnaith and Harold Gracey.

All to no avail, and the Parades Commission eventually announced the expected rerouteing at a press conference which had been postponed for several hours to give last-ditch mediation efforts a chance.

Even some nationalists admitted a positive outcome to the Drumcree negotiations would have given Mr Trimble more room to manoeuvre on decommissioning. Getting the march down the road would have provided a very substantial fig-leaf had he then chosen to join an executive with Sinn Fein in the absence of a prior or even simultaneous hand-over of guns.

It was not to be and, under bizarre circumstances, the Parades Commission chairman, Alistair Graham, read out the ruling against the Orangemen. He had to leave the Stormont Hotel halfway through after a persistently ringing bomb alert finally penetrated the consciousness of the participants in the press conference, and he calmly finished the performance in the farthest corner of the hotel car-park.

While Sinn Fein did not reveal the contents of its letter responding to the questions on decommissioning from Gen John de Chastelain, party sources characterised it as "very positive". The republicans were seeking for some time to have the weapons issue put at the sole discretion of the general. Whether they had anything concrete to offer him was a moot point.

He would obviously be seeking weapons to destroy, but the republican movement sees that as conditional on all other aspects of the Belfast Agreement being implemented. While nationalists were somewhat dismayed when the two prime ministers left on their Drumcree rescue mission, the reality was that little enough would have been achieved anyway in the absence of the general's report, which is expected late this afternoon.

Then the real work begins. Preliminary indications were that this time the negotiations will be a lot more professional and structured than at Hillsborough, which one participant pithily described as "a bit of a dog's dinner". The first theme will be the inclusive executive. Sinn Fein will want a copperfastened guarantee that if it stretches the republican constituency on decommissioning, admission to cabinet office will not be held up.

The unionist position was outlined by sources close to Mr Trimble: "De Chastelain's report tomorrow is crucial. It will clearly allow the discussion proper here to begin. The commitment from the republican movement to actually decommission all their weapons by May 2000 still hasn't been made. Until that has been made, we don't envisage a serious negotiation taking place on decommissioning, and that in no way means that we have changed our position on the timing of it."

Attention was focusing more and more on the Prime Minister's statement in his self-penned London Times article last week where he said there had to be a "cast-iron, fail-safe device" that if decommissioning didn't happen according to the agreed timetable, the executive "couldn't continue".

Would the creation of such a device imply the passage of special legislation? Dr Mowlam's friends in the Women's Coalition, for example, were floating the idea of a special law decreeing that if decommissioning was the sole remaining part of the agreement which had not been implemented by May 2000, then Sinn Fein would be stood down from membership of the executive.

In this scenario, Mr Adams and his friends would spend a period in opposition. For the idea to have any appeal for unionists, such legislation would need to be put in place in advance of an executive ("Trimble likes things to be spelt out," said one insider.)

Sinn Fein, however, would see such a provision as outside the terms of the agreement, putting conditions on their electoral mandate. Some observers doubted the need for special legislation: "The unionists will probably walk out anyway if there is no decommissioning."

Meanwhile the deadline edges ever closer. Although initially uneasy about the timing because it coincided with Drumcree, Dublin is going along with Mr Blair's time-limit.

There were alarming reports offstage. The Orange Volunteers and Red Hand Defenders said they would be "on standby at midnight" to prevent "the latest sell-out of our country".

There was also a certain weary and tragic inevitability about suggestions that mainstream republicans might have been involved in a planned bomb attack in Derry at the weekend. The Ulster Unionists were quick to react, telling the two prime ministers by way of a press statement that they could no longer turn a blind eye to such developments.

Events were moving fast. No sooner had the Parades Commission ruling on Drumcree been announced than word filtered through of President Clinton's comments on the negotiations.

The can-do American spirit was evident in the President's assertion that there was a good chance the parties could reach agreement "even at this 11th hour". If there was no decommissioning, Trimble could "bring this down at any time". He was prepared to intervene personally. He would sit up all night.

The President is one of the few leaders who continually stress the influence a good example from here could have on other troublespots around the world. It would give "great heart" to the Balkans, Africa and the Middle East. The next two days will tell the tale.