We'll all enjoy the Masters as the tournament celebrates its 50th birthday. It's one of the great treats of any snooker season.
Could we remember to not be too harsh on Alexandra Palace this time round though?
That comment isn't just aimed at Ronnie O'Sullivan - he branded the venue "disgusting and dirty" last year - but all of us.
Look, there's no point pretending Ally Pally is perfect. If any building could do with a deep clean, it's that one.
Show me a place that opened in 1875 that couldn't do with a bit of extra polish here and there. It's old. Actually, it's bloody ancient. But it's grand too. You can feel the history there.
It also can't be denied that there's a major problem with wasps and insects inside. You see more of them at the Masters now than you do on Winterwatch.
You can be sure that we'll see players fight with the little blighters in the days to come, using their cues as swords in exasperated fashion. The poor referees will usually be the ones left to deal with them eventually. In the case of Jan Verhaas, he tends to splat them. Thankfully, most officials prefer more humane methods.
I do have to reference the seats too. They're temporary. They're small. The punters are boxed right in. It's not the height of comfort. Fans tell us this all the time. There's no point ignoring it.
But that's quite enough of the bad stuff. Time for the good stuff. There's lots of it.
The arena looks wonderful. The set designers have nailed it big time. The corporate areas add to the ambience, when so often at sporting events, they subtract from it.
When the television cameras pan out and you can see the whole shebang, it looks tantalising. If ever a sight said, I want to be there next year, it's that one.
The atmosphere is genuinely electric too. When Ronnie O'Sullivan plays John Higgins in the opening match on Sunday, it will sound like the roof is going to come off. The shouts and the cheers reverberate around the walls and create an almighty din.
Actually, as I mention Higgins, that reminds me of something. He once said we're a little too romantic when it comes to Wembley Conference Centre, home of the Masters from 1979 to 2006.
Here's the part nobody can dispute. That venue was truly magnificent for snooker. It was made for the sport, with its natural amphitheatre feel. Just a superb setting. For fans, it was comfort personified too in those lovely plush seats. We will rightly be forever grateful for the three decades of memories it gave us.
But as Higgins points out, we can be rather rose-tinted with our recollections too. It wasn't always full there, especially outside finals and appearances from the huge crowd favourites like Alex Higgins, Jimmy White and O'Sullivan. The honest truth is that crowds there could be pretty ordinary in number for a fair amount of the time.
By contrast, this coming week will see more than 2,000 fans crammed in for 15 separate matches in a row. That really is quite something. Especially in January, when wallets are empty and spirits can be low.
Let's be honest, we're not blessed with huge arenas for snooker across the UK. The Crucible, beloved home of the World Championship, has fewer than 1,000 seats.
There is a sense of pilgrimage about Ally Pally too. Even if you get the train there, as I do, it feels like only half the job is done. You've still got that long trek up the hill. The best sport often has that sense of journeying to it though. Making the extra effort because you know it's worthwhile. I like that.
I don't know if Ally Pally has surpassed Wembley Conference Centre. I think that's a big call to make. But I reckon it's probably matched it. And we never thought that was likely when the beloved Centre hosted its last tournament.
We were even more pessimistic when the event moved over the road to the cavernous Wembley Arena. What a soulless venue that proved to be for its five editions, before Alexandra Palace took over in 2012.
So if you're lucky enough to be going to the tournament this year, let's recognise that some of the quieter corners of Ally Pally could do with sprucing up, and that we would prefer to be sitting in a padded chair, and the wasps are a nuisance.
But let's look around too and appreciate the bigger picture. See the number of people at a snooker event just a few days into the new year. Listen to the noise, that fervent and raucous enthusiasm. Remember the fans watching at home, gazing longingly at the screen and wishing they too were at the party.
Alexandra Palace is a brilliant venue for the Masters and the sport full stop. I can't wait for its doors to open wide once more.
Fifty years of magic... and here's to many more
I can't sign off for this column without wishing Happy Birthday to the Masters. The venerable old tournament has given us all so much.
From John Spencer beating Ray Reardon on a re-spotted black in the first final in 1975 to Kirk Stevens making the 147 in his white suit and Stephen Hendry missing that black to middle.
There was Ken Doherty going so agonisingly close to a maximum, the late Paul Hunter claiming a glorious hat-trick of titles and the prolific O'Sullivan winning an eighth crown.
Magic moments, unforgettable characters. The Masters has always been pure show business. It does things differently somehow, with a style and panache all of its own. It's irresistible really.
Many happy returns, old friend. Long may you reign.
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