Of all the possible subjects that could have come up at the first FMQs since the summer break this week, the resident soothsayer at the Dundee Flower and Food Festival was not on many people’s list of possibilities.
But life at Holyrood is nothing if not surprising, and there is no doubt that the charms of Gypsy Amalia provided the most memorable moment durng Thursday’s clash.
In an amusing, if entirely unenlightening exchange, Iain Gray used El Presidente’s past encounters with the fortune teller to try to prise more detail on the independence referendum.
Salmond, as you would expect, gave a strong and witty rejoinder, revealing Amalia had correctly called the 2007 election for the SNP and would now be turning her attention to the contest to replace Mr Gray.
That joke masked a serious point because, talented as Amalia surely is, I suspect even she would prefer not to hazard a guess.
So then, in a reversal of normal procedure, it was left to Annabel Goldie to bring a more serious tone.
She bored everyone to death with questions about whether the First Minister wanted the euro or sterling in his independent Scotland. To the surprise of nobody, he failed to answer.
But it was hard to shake the feeling the real question raised this week was how well Holyrood can focus on day-to-day business when all sides are obsessed with that much-discussed, but still distant, referendum.
Short of seeking a consultation with Gypsy Amalia, only time will tell.
Photo by Flickr user aussiegall.