As I write, Her Majesty The Queen is counting down the minutes until Gordon Brown arrives to leave muddy footprints on her good carpet for one last time before the start of the General Election campaign proper.
And then, for a solid calendar month, we can look forward to wall-to-wall politicians: on our televisions, in our newspapers, in our town centres and - joy of joys - even on our doorsteps.
But, in amongst the thousands of candidates standing for the 650 seats up for grabs, I ask you to look out for just one.
My mate Rodney McCune.
Rodney and I first met in the late 1990s when I was employed by the Ulster Unionists in Westminster and he was doing a bit of work experience with us whilst at law school in London.
Since then, he was become a very successful barrister and, as the Ulster Unionist candidate in North Antrim at the 2005 General Election, took 6,637 votes off that nasty old b*stard Ian Paisley.
This time, Rodney has been selected to stand as the joint Conservative and Unionist candidate in East Antrim.
And the contest will be unique as the constituency is currently represented in Parliament by Ulster's only living Troll, Sammy Wilson, who also serves as the part-time Finance Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Sammy's regards himself as a "funny man" and he's certainly that but, sadly for him, in a clown rather than a joker type way.
He also has what could be loosely termed "arse and elbow recognition problems."
For example, the respected political website They Work for You describes his voting record in the House of Commons as "a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament." A man of deep principle then.
And then, for a solid calendar month, we can look forward to wall-to-wall politicians: on our televisions, in our newspapers, in our town centres and - joy of joys - even on our doorsteps.
But, in amongst the thousands of candidates standing for the 650 seats up for grabs, I ask you to look out for just one.
My mate Rodney McCune.
Rodney and I first met in the late 1990s when I was employed by the Ulster Unionists in Westminster and he was doing a bit of work experience with us whilst at law school in London.
Since then, he was become a very successful barrister and, as the Ulster Unionist candidate in North Antrim at the 2005 General Election, took 6,637 votes off that nasty old b*stard Ian Paisley.
This time, Rodney has been selected to stand as the joint Conservative and Unionist candidate in East Antrim.
And the contest will be unique as the constituency is currently represented in Parliament by Ulster's only living Troll, Sammy Wilson, who also serves as the part-time Finance Minister in the Northern Ireland Executive.
Sammy's regards himself as a "funny man" and he's certainly that but, sadly for him, in a clown rather than a joker type way.
He also has what could be loosely termed "arse and elbow recognition problems."
For example, the respected political website They Work for You describes his voting record in the House of Commons as "a mixture of for and against a transparent Parliament." A man of deep principle then.
So that's the battle in East Antrim.
I'll keep you informed between now and polling day on how it's going. And let's hope Rodney does it (obviously).
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