The last time I wrote here, I was covering a fairly comfortable Scottish Cup quarter-final win over Partick Thistle and trying to articulate what it felt like to be going back to Hampden for the third time this season.
Good problems. Nice problems. Problems I'll happily present in a breezy, "aren't St Mirren a laugh?" column format.
Three days later, however, Stephen Robinson has departed St Mirren to become Aberdeen's new manager. The good problems are still there. They just have unwelcome company now.
Before anything else gets said about timing or league positions, it is worth being clear about what he actually was for this football club.
Three consecutive top-six finishes – the first time in four decades St Mirren had managed that. European football for the first time since 1987.
And December of last year, when he took this club to Hampden to beat Celtic 3-1 and win the League Cup. He is, without serious argument, one of the greatest managers St Mirren have ever had. That is his legacy and it is a remarkable one.
The timing, though. It stings. St Mirren sit 10th, three points above the relegation play-off spot, with one league win in 13 and injuries accumulating. Robinson spent months asking publicly for a reaction from his players and not quite getting one.
Craig McLeish, Jamie Langfield and Allan McManus take charge on an interim basis while the club finds a permanent replacement. They know this squad, they know this club, and they deserve the full support of everyone connected with it.
Robinson's destination raises its own questions, though none of them are really St Mirren's to answer. The more immediately relevant detail is Aberdeen sit one place and five points above St Mirren in the league.
I've already requested annual leave for the week leading up to when the two clubs meet at the SMiSA on 4 April, just so I can properly enjoy the "can we boo him or not?" discourse.
Robinson, for his part, has waited years for an opportunity like this. When it came, he took it. That is how football works and anyone who has spent long enough following a club of our stature understands it.
The feelings are complicated – they are allowed to be complicated – but they do not diminish what he gave this club.
What Robinson leaves behind still matters. St Mirren are in the Scottish Cup semi-finals against Celtic. We are League Cup holders. We are a club that spent four years learning it does not need to be afraid of anyone in this division. That does not go with him.
For now though, all sentiment needs parked. There is a relegation battle to win and a trip to Hampden to look forward to. For a season that has caused so much stress, it still has a remarkable amount to offer.
Andrew Christie can be found at Misery Hunters
