Well, I guess it does. Especially if, like me, you are still suffering the effects of piglet `flu and especially at this time of year when the depths of winter take hold, daylight is at a premium and you can`t wait for the shortest day to arrive in a week`s time so we can get on with the festive season, start the new year and see the light once more.

But for all of that, there were a couple of things that raised my spirits this weekend and which made this particular Monday at least bearable. The first was the 1-0 defeat of Manchester United at home by Aston Villa, which left United`s manager,`Sir` Alex Ferguson, ranting away at the match officials for only allowing three minutes of added time, rather than the time it took for United to score and salvage a point.

And then my beloved Saints swept Tranmere Rovers aside with a 3-0 win at St. Mary`s to lift themselves into mid-table security, at least for now. The piglet `flu prevented me from going, but I was much cheered by these two results which, in many ways, represented a thoroughly satisfactory outcome to a weekend that would otherwise have `sucked` at least as much as Monday.