I was glad to be on the edge of the Cotswolds listening to the Villa-Man United game on Radio 5 Live.
Better 90 miles away with a full fridge than having to report on what was a very difficult evening indeed. I just wish I had still been tucked away in Chipping Sodbury last Sunday.
Credit to the team and Martin O'Neill, performances and games as dull as that have been few and far between: Man City at home last season, Leicester at home not long ago...
The best thing about it was perhaos the 1.30pm kick-off. It meant that the away fans were only stuck on the M6 for three or four hours as they trudged home.
Good old Gary Megson! If anyone can keep Bolton up, it is him. And contrary to what the majority of others think, I think he will.
As for Villa, it was a point after all.
Now for Derby. Hapless and hopeless this season. Haven't scored away, been hit for four five and six already on their travels. Villa protecting a near 20-year winning run at home against them. Surely three points? Nothing is a given at Villa, as my mind wanders back to that Leicester cup tie.
I saw Martin O'Neill on Monday afternoon for his weekly briefing. Superb form he was in too.
Hugely entertaining. O'Neill was relaxed and whimsical.
The conversation was fast-flowing as he switched from Kenny Miller and Darren Moore to George Best in an instant.
O'Neill, as I've said before, is terrific value in these informal press settings. The best I've ever dealt with, either at this club or others in my ten years.
John Gregory used to come to life infront of the cameras which used to give the impression that he was excellent with the written press...don't be fooled.
Graham Taylor is now a truly excellent broadcaster in his own right, but during his secind stint at Villa he was perhaps too involved with in-fighting at boardroom level to really be himself with reporters.
David O'Leary- well....we had our tiffs. Sometimes he could be extremely engaging. Other times the most basic of memory tests would slip him up and take the sting out of his anecdotes.
"I remember at Arsenal we won the Double five times in six seasons"..."At Leeds we won the European Cup..." - you get the picture? Always exagerrated.
Not so O'Neill.
I asked him: "Do you remember getting beat 4-1 at Derby whilst at Forest, when you were European Champions and they ended up getting relegated?", I asked.
"I sure do....November 1979. I remember Brian Clough wasn't very happy at all", he answers. "But at least Clough wasn't happy with his favourite players either, which made me happier!"
The days of managers phoning the local hack every morning have long gone. A terrible shame that.
But in ten, 15, or 20 years time I shall be recalling the golden age when I used to talk football with the Special One, Randy Lerner's Special One.