Premier Ewart Brown believes evoking significant change in Bermuda is "painful" even though the Country has been crying for it.

Speaking on the eve of his gala weekend, Dr. Brown said his mission was to "plough up the ground" when he became Premier back in September 2006.

Sitting in his office in the Cabinet Building, the man who has been both praised and criticised over the past four years spoke about what he will miss the most, his plans when he retires and what he's looking forward to this weekend.

"I was telling my son last night that it is a rare opportunity that the people of Bermuda have afforded me and I believe that for those who don't see it now, they will see later that my mission was as I said to plough up the ground," Dr. Brown said.

"I didn't come into a heavenly environment. I became Premier in a Country that was crying out for change.

"I often say that people want change but they don't want to be the change. Everybody wants to go to heaven, nobody wants to die. You add those two and you get resistance to change and so I have understood it all along.

"I have not been surprised at all by the environment because I've studied the history of my Country and the psychology of my Country and I believe that serious and significant change in Bermuda is painful."

Dr. Brown beat out former Premier Alex Scott for the leadership at the PLP's Annual Delegates conference in 2006.

A farewell gala in honour of Dr. Brown will be held tomorrow night at the Fairmont Southampton.

"I'll be making remarks, prepared remarks too because I expect that I'm going to be extremely emotional and when I get emotional I sometimes don't do well," he said.

"So I'm going to have prepared comments and I'm going to stick with them. It's thanks. It's just thanks, thanks, thanks for the opportunity."

Asked what he will miss the most about being Premier, he said: "I think I'll just miss the treadmill, the pace of the activities, the look in the faces of people who feel that they have been well-served by the Government.

"The elderly woman who said thanks for FutureCare. The young man from Mirrors who said thanks for giving me the opportunity.

"Those are just special moments and so I imagine I will miss the daily pace. But I'll get over it."

FutureCare, a health insurance plan for seniors, was introduced in March 2009.

The Mirrors programme was launched in 2007. It aims to inspire and empower young people.

As far as the next phase of his life, travel will take up most of his time when he steps down as leader and MP for Warwick South Central in October,

"The first thing I'm going to do is detox and I say that very seriously. In any political environment there is a certain amount of toxic behaviour and so the first thing I'm going to do is to try to let all of that go."

He continued: "I want to get off the treadmill and relax. I want to play a lot of golf, travel. I would imagine that between October and the end of the year, we will be cruising two-thirds of the time."

He said the first will be a family cruise in November and then his wife Wanda Henton Brown will be taking him on a three-and-a-half week cruise from Singapore to Australia, a country he's never been to.

"The plan is to give my farewell speech at the Berkeley Institute and I think that's scheduled for [October] 27 and I would have arranged my paperwork for the Governor and so I will be resigning from my seat and I assume that the new Premier would be sworn in the next day or the day after."