I'm suffering now after 2 nights of excess, particularly last night. I took close family and friends out for a lovely meal at Emilio's, an Italian restaurant in 'posh' Bawtry. There were 17 of us in all. It always amazes me how Bawtry has managed to turn into such an upmarket village given it's position halfway between Doncaster and Worksop.

It was a fantastic night, and a very emotional one. I think every one of us was crying at some point in the evening, myself included (especially when the bill arrived!).

It finally hit me last night what we are doing. It was my mate Michael's toast that got me started. It suddenly hit me like a sledgehammer that we were in fact saying goodbye. Of course we're going to keep in touch with everyone, and with the Internet, e-mail, Voice over IP phones, and the like, the world has truly become a smaller place. But it's not going to be the same. There was a brief moment last night when I questioned what we're doing. How did we arrive at this point? And then I remembered the beaches, the sun, the sound of the Kookaburras in the morning, the 'shrimps on the barbie', the paradise which is North Stradbroke Island, and the countless opportunities for sport and exercise.

I know we're making the right move. It doesn't mean it's going to be easy though.