Parliament breaks up for its summer recess tomorrow. It's normally a time to tie up loose ends and recharge batteries.
But both this year and last year, the coalition government left Parliament on a cliff-hanger.
Think back to 20 July last year.
Rebekah Brooks was giving evidence before the culture, media and sport committee.
And David Cameron was giving a statement to the Commons on phone hacking. Nick Robinson described it as the most important parliamentary debate of his premiership.
Fast-forward to 2012, and Nick Robinson writes about another hurdle: "The PM finds himself caught between rebel Tory MPs - around 100 of them - and the Lib Dems who are making increasingly overt threats of 'consequences' if he fails to confront them."
The ability for government to make the Westminster bed neatly before leaving for recess cannot be underestimated. MPs will now be away from Parliament for 47 days.
Leaving unfinished business over recess is like leaving out uncooked pork on a hot day – it can only go rancid.
David Cameron and Nick Clegg will go to lengths today to stress that the government is "back on track".
They are announcing a last-minute, massive spending spree on infrastructure.
There are plans for a £9bn investment in rail and some shiny, new announcements on home-building.
Ok, so the details are a little fuzzy – and the growth schemes will not be felt for years – but it's an attempt to cry, 'Hey, look. Last week was rough but we're moving on. Have some sugar. See, it's not so bad.'
But any pretence that coalition wounds were healed over the weekend is far-fetched.
Clegg is still muttering about Cameron needing to sort his troops out – if not in those exact words.
And Lib Dems are slowly distancing themselves from the importance of Lords reform, bracing themselves for a defeat.
Both parties know that they have to get over this bump in the road – the coalition will not end over a constitutional wrangle – but no one has worked out how.
As the deputy prime minister said this morning: "This is a coalition government of two parties doing big, bold, difficult things for the benefit of the country."
The DPM will give the PM the summer to try and turn around support for reform of the Upper House.
(There's talk of a compromise of 120 elected peers by 2015 – or just electing enough Lords to replace the hereditary peers.)
Clegg wants to make out that it's an internal Conservative problem that is preventing Lords reform, not a weakness of his own party.
But Lib Dems stand to lose the most from this.
They lost their way on AV – but Cameron delivered a referendum.
If they lose their way on the Lords – and Cameron doesn't deliver his MPs – it says the Lib Dems can be jostled out of the way.
It's why certain Lib Dems whisper urgently about 'consequences'.
"This is far from over," one Lib Dem told me. "We cannot be pushed out of the way on this one."
The 'country' may not care about Lords reform – but they care about whether Clegg and his ministers have enough influence to make a difference in government.
Otherwise, their argument for forming a bond with the Conservatives starts to crumble.
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