In many ways, this is where the hard work begins.
We have been through the gruelling referendum campaign. The result is in. It must be respected.
Now starts the question of how we make Scotland a better country within the UK.
Nicola Sturgeon, when her coronation is completed as SNP leader in Perth in November, must look to press on with a radical programme to get the country moving and improving.
I mention coronation advisedly. The first minister in waiting will hope her private conversations with David Cameron are subject to greater discretion than the prime minister allowed for Her Majesty’s alleged “purring” over the referendum result.
A major reshuffle is expected to accompany a new driver in the top job.
Do not be surprised to see Shona Robison get a well-deserved promotion perhaps to the health brief.
She and Ms Sturgeon are close and the Dundee East MSP has proven herself looking after a number of junior ministerial briefs as well as overseeing an incredibly successful Commonwealth Games.
Kenny MacAskill will be looking very nervously over his shoulder.
Justice has been a disaster area between an ill thought-out and muddled corroboration policy and the shambles that is Police Scotland. The axe beckons and he will not be alone.
With a new team must come a renewed sense of purpose.
Yes, pushing for more powers, but also making sure the services under Holyrood’s control are fit for purpose.
In some ways, this gives an added interest to who the SNP chooses to be its deputy leader. Both Stewart Hosie and Keith Brown can do the job and do it well.
However, if you have someone at the top arguing the case for more powers within Westminster, it frees up more time for senior figures in Holyrood.
For this reason, the Dundee East MP, also Ms Robison’s husband, could be seen as the strong candidate.
More devolution must be delivered but the SNP cannot let the issue overshadow everything which affects Scots’ lives they do have the final say over: health, education, justice and transport. Strong ideas about how to improve these areas are essential before 2016.
When “Team Nicola” forms in a couple of months, its job will be about far more than the constitution.
* I HEAR there was one local Labour bod notable by their absence at last Thursday’s referendum count in Dundee.
Councillor Lesley Brennan, the party’s candidate for the Dundee East seat at Westminster next year, was nowhere to be seen.
It was mentioned that she cited fear of intimidation by others as the reason, although, it’s fair to say, members in the group were not best pleased…
* THERE WAS a touching moment during Holyrood’s first action in the chamber post-referendum as one of the SNP’s whips office made sure a colleague was scrubbed up.
Angus South MSP Graeme Dey could be spotted pinning a badge on to Paisley representative George Adam’s lapel before Alex Salmond’s statement on the big vote.
Could it be that, as Mr Adam was sitting not too far behind the first minister, this was a case of Mr Dey making sure all his party’s politicians were looking good for the telly?
* CHEFS AT the Scottish Parliament were particularly cruel to a big number of those who work in the building as folk filed back into work in the wake of a No vote.
The dessert in Holyrood’s canteen on Monday raised eyebrows and even brought a few choice words from independence supporters.
“They didn’t have to have Eton mess on the first day back,” muttered one.
* ED MILIBAND may have dropped one of the longest conference speeches ever, clocking in at more than an hour long, but it was a short preview for Scottish journalists.
Just a few lines about the referendum in the trail of what he was going to say, which basically revolved around a woman called Josephine who may have voted No but may have voted Yes.
Insightful stuff. At least he remembered to put it in, unlike small matters like the deficit.
* I’M OFTEN a frontrunner for taking the mick out of people who make unfortunate typos, so it’s only fair I poke a bit of fun at myself for a spell-check disaster.
For clarity, I fully expect Stewart Hosie to exert heavy pressure on the UK’s main parties to deliver further devolution, not excrete!
Sorry about that mistake for anyone who was eating their breakfast and reading the paper on Friday morning…