With just one week left to go before we move out of our house for good and across La Manche to France - also for good - it's hard to believe it's really happening.

We've petty much burnt all our bridges; closing accounts here, there and everywhere, giving notice at our house and cancelling insurances.

We've spent over a thousand pounds on getting the car up to scratch - although many scratches still remain, especially on the bumpers - spent the last few weeks packing so that most of our stuff is now in boxes - well, that which we're not using or won't fit into boxes anyway, like the sofa. So apart from some cleaning round the house, which we'll be diving into next Monday, and some last minute packing, disassembly and panic, we're ready to go.

This may sound strange, but it's all seemed pretty unreal, almost like it's happening to someone else, but now it's getting more real by the second. Those last minute doubts and worries have begun creeping in, but we know it's too late for that. We've gone too far to suddenly get cold feet. Yet, despite the nagging doubts, the worry about what will happen with jobs, learning the new language and life in general, we can't wait to do it. I did say it may seem strange.

I suppose the hardest part will be being without my beloved internet connection for a period of time, but that's only likely to last for three weeks at most, which I can tell myself is like being on holiday.

There's so much work to be done, I don't know how we're going to be able to do it all, but the work we have scheduled on the house won't even begin for a couple of months, due to the builders prior commitments, so you never know, we may catch a break.

Pen's keen for me to continue writing as whilst she's not convinced we'll get rich from it - and in all honesty, neither am I - she does see it as another avenue of income. So with the ideas I have stored away, there's going to be more from me, if not soon, then definitely when everything settles.

So with a deep breath and a wipe of the brow, we prepare to leap into the void ...