A Generation or so ago political life in Wyre/North Fylde was simple - and a reasonably deep shade of blue.
The genial old man of Wyre politics, Tory knight Sir Walter Clegg represented North Fylde at Westminster, and the fact that the North Fylde constituency boundary covered exactly the same footprint as Wyre Borough made the area's political geography neat and tidy.
That changed when parts of North Fylde were hived off into Lancaster and into Fylde - leaving constituents, and even some candidates, wondering if they had got their Wyre's crossed. The puzzling boundaries around Cartford Bridge even prompted a television feature!
Now it's 'all change' again as the political parties have already started shaping themselves to the latest boundaries.
Most of the main parties have already chosen their candidates and altered their own constituency organisations to reflect the reality of the new boundaries. 'Courier' country has seen the most radical changes to the parliamentary map in the whole of Lancashire.
The changes were prompted by a need for constituencies to have roughly the same number of voters - but it has led to some unusual jigsaw shifting - and the splitting assunder of neighbouring villages.
The new parliamentary boundary map creates two new constituencies in this area, Wyre and North Preston, and Lancaster and Fleetwood - lumping together diverse and quite geographically separate areas.
Wyre and North Preston (circa 69,000 voters) comprises: Breck, Brock, Cabus, Calder, Carleton, Catterall, Garstang, Great Eccleston (previously in Fylde), Hambleton, Stalmine-with-Staynall, Hardhorn, High Cross, Norcross, Staina, Tithebarn, as well as the Preston wards of Rural East, Rural North, Cadley, College, Garrison, Greyfriars, and Sharoe Green.
Lancaster and Fleetwood (circa 64,000 voters) comprises: Preesall, Knott End, Pilling, Winmareigh, Forton, Scorton and Bleasdale, the port of Fleetwood and the Lancaster city wards of Bulk, Castle, Duke's, Ellel, John O'Gaunt, Lower Lune Valley, Scotforth East, Scotforth West and University.
The new-look parliamentary map was mooted by the Boundary Commission and debated at a public hearing in 2004 where, for this area, the main point of contention was the future of Cabus - with it being eventually firmly glued to Garstang and part of the Wyre and North Preston seat rather, than was at first suggested, part of Lancaster and Fleetwood.
Politically most pundits agree the changes have, though not intentionally, given the Conservatives the upper hand in Wyre and North Preston.
Rural Wyre has long been traditional Tory territory, as have Poulton-le-Fylde, the rural Preston villages, and the Fulwood wards of Preston.
Ben Wallace, MP for the current seat of Lancaster and Wyre, has been selected for the Tory ticket for the Wyre and North Preston.
Garstang-based Tory MEP Sir Robert Atkins, recently confidently predicted on a web-based political discussion board: "Wyre and Preston North will be one of the safest - if not THE safest - Tory seats in the north of England and it will have a first rate MP in Ben Wallace."
Number crunching polling figures from the last general election to the new Wyre and North Preston seat gives the Tories almost 54 per cent of the vote - with a predicted majority of more than 14,000. Political forecasters predict Labour in second place with 25 per cent of the poll and Liberal Democrats in third place with around 17 per cent.
With a Tory victory in Wyre and Preston North almost a certainty the main political interest will be in the new Lancaster and Fleetwood seat, where Wyre borough Labour leader Clive Grunshaw has been selected for Labour.
Pundits have predicted a Labour win (with a majority of about 4,000) in the Lancaster and Fleetwood seat, but the Tories' choice of high profile big-hitter Eric Ollerenshaw - a former Tory leader of the London Assembly - has given the Conservatives optimism.
Another plus for Mr Ollerenshaw's hopes is the defeat of several Labour councillors by Tory candidates in their stronghold of Fleetwood at last year's muncipal elections.
A year ago the local Conservatives moved their campaign base from Lancaster to Great Eccleston. The move (related to the end of a lease rather than for political reasons) was criticised by the Lib Dems, but has in fact had practical advantages for the Tories, whose village office is now a hub for their political organisation in this part of Lancashire.
Labour activists are few on the ground in Preesall, Pilling, Wyresdale, Cockerham and the Lune Valley. But the party will be hoping its power bases in Lancaster and the city's university and in the port of Fleetwood will help its chances.
The impact of the Liberal Democrats under the new boundaries has yet to be measured. Garstang, once a Lib Dem stronghold, is now firmly Tory, though the Lib Dems are somewhat stronger in north Lancashire.
At the 2005 general election in the current Lancaster and Wyre seat the anti-government vote benefited Lib Dem candidate Stuart Langhorne who is standing again in the new Lancaster and Fleetwood seat.
At the start of a new year local campaigning issues will soon come to the fore.
Canatxx is pressing on with revamped gas store plans for the Wyre estuary, councils at borough and county levels are setting their budgets, and eco-issues are increasingly prominent.
Preston City politics has long been a hotbed of intrigue and splits - especially within its Labour ranks.
But the past two years have seen reports of divisions and fall-outs among leading Tories, culminating in the de-selection of Coun Ken Hudson of Inglewhite. Ironically, Coun Hudson won his internal appeal to the Tory hierarchy and has ended up as leader of the minority administration on Preston Council.
How - and even if - Preston's fractious politics will influence the new scene in Wyre and North Preston remains to be seen.
Traditionally Preston-related issues such as the Whittingham homes development and the Broughton by-pass will be firmly on the agenda of the candidates over the next few years.
Gordon Brown does not have to call an election until 2010, but having flunked a poll in autumn 2007, and his government under fire from all sides, the day when the citizens of Lancaster and Fleetwood, and Wyre and North Preston, make their choice as to who their next MP will be, and have their say on the government's record, could be sooner rather than later.

* How the parties are shaping up:
Wyre and North Preston candidates (so far)
Greg Beaman (UKIP); Jack Davenport (Lab); Ben Wallace (Con)
Lancaster and Fleetwood candidates (so far)
Gina Dowding (Green); Clive Grunshaw (Lab); Stuart Langhorn (Lib Dem); Fred McGlade (UKIP); Eric Ollerenshaw (Con)