ALL of a sudden, they're gone.

After months of preparation and two days of the world's most powerful men and women proclaiming on the global issues of the day, the Nato Newport (Piggybacked By The Rest Of Wales) Summit is over.

Never again will we see so many police on the city's streets. Never again (probably) will the President of the United States of America chat happily with schoolchildren in Rogerstone. Never again (hopefully) will David Cameron's face appear so shiny - it must be something in our air.

Never again will scores of tooled-up secret service agents leap out from behind trees in Coed Melyn as I take my dog for an early morning walk, only to have their hearts softened by her rolling onto her back and making canine sounds that roughly translate as "you with the flak jacket and the automatic weapon! tickle my belly! now!"

Actually, I made that last bit up... but it's the sort of thing I should have been expecting given the hyperbole surrounding the predicted disruption to everyday life being peddled by the naysayers and doom-mongers.

There will be traffic jams so gargantuan around Newport, while world leaders are to and from the Celtic Manor borne, that the combined exhaust emissions will rob the city of sunlight for at least a decade... they said.

So intrusive will be the law enforcement and surveillance be that anyone who sneezes without having obtained prior permission can expect their home to be surrounded and attacked by tear gas-firing SWAT squads, just as a precaution... they said.

So shamelessly sumptuous will be the Nato banqueting - elephants stuffed with camels, stuffed with cows, stuffed with sheep, stuffed with badgers, stuffed with koalas, stuffed with chinchillas, stuffed with dormice, that sort of thing - that at least 60 species of mammals and birds will be rendered extinct... they said.

Actually, again, I made the aforementioned claims up. But only as a means of trying to expose the vastly exaggerated predictions of chaos made by those who think Nato had no business in Newport, and indeed has no business anywhere else in the world.

Whether any of the discussions held and pronouncements made at the gathering of the great and good at Celtic Manor result in a better world, it is too early to say.

And whether Nato's presence in Newport benefits the city and the wider South East Wales region in the short, medium or long term, also remains to be seen.

What I am convinced of though, is that Newport has done itself proud. There have been plenty in the wider media world who have exhibited ignorance - genuine or feigned - about the city, and anyone with a map and even a vague notion of geography who can 'mistake' Newport for Cardiff or vice versa is frankly, an idiot.

There are many too, fully paid up members of the S3G (Snort, Snark, Snipe & Grumble) Club, who have paraded the sort of affected cynicism and sarcasm that should have left them with no cause for complaint had they been unceremoniously dumped in the Usk.

True, most of the outside world's view of the city this past two days has been restricted to clips of the illustrious upper bodies of various Nato leaders and their minions, filmed in interview against the backdrop of the Celtic Manor, which has come across as an upmarket 21st Century version of the Schloss Adler out of the film Where Eagles Dare.

Of course, there's more to Newport than that - and while we were never going to see Francois Hollande whooping it up at Warehouse, or Angela Merkel joining tea dancers at Lysaght's Institute, I'm sure they would have been welcomed with open arms.

What I mistook for an early morning fire drill as I arrived for work yesterday turned out to be dozens of my colleagues waiting for the big flypast, mobile phone cameras primed, while the fabulous photos our readers have sent in of this and other Nato-related events are a striking measure of the level of interest.

And as I write this, the Argus' Nato-related coverage has triggered 150,000 website 'hits' and rising.

Because, inevitable (but strangely low-key) anti-Nato protests aside, Newport has largely embraced this extraordinary gathering, making it memorable for all the right reasons.

And whether or not you agreed with its decamping here in the first place, that ought to trigger a sense of satisfaction.