"Surviving our times" is all about self-sufficiency. While this conjures up visions of backyard vegetable gardens and recipes for lentil soup, it also means acquiring the skills to provide the basic necessities, and the ability to adapt to a changing environment.

As many people are proving, it is possible to live quite comfortably "off the grid". Not everyone agrees on what makes up the "basic necessities" ; for example my list would include indoor plumbing, complete with running hot water. But I think most people would agree on one item: a telephone. With alternative energy sources and wireless technology, "roughing it in the bush" needn't be quite so rough any more.

If you doubt that we are living in a changing environment, you need only walk down the main street of a small town, or pick up a newspaper. Small businesses are losing customers to big "box stores" and to internet marketing. The recent demise of Lichtmans Books shows that even top quality products and customer service are no match for the convenience and volume-based savings available on the internet.

For some businesses, location, once the most important (and expensive) consideration, is now almost irrelevant. If your customer base is now the whole world, it doesn't matter if your office is in Toronto or Tottenham. Meanwhile, corporations are discovering the benefits of telecommuting. Why maintain expensive office space if employees can work productively from their homes?

In an age when people can shop and work from their own homes, rural communites should have an advantage. We can offer all the benefits of "country life" along with a lower cost of living - certainly in the area of housing and office space. In this new economy, our competition is no longer the "big cities", but other rural communities.

A man preparing for a hike in the mountains noticed that his friend was wearing running shoes, and offered him a pair of hiking boots. "No thanks", said his friend, "There are bears out there, and I can't run fast in hiking boots". "Don't be silly, said the first, "you couldn't out-run a bear anyway". "I don't have to out-run the bear", was the reply, "I only have to out-run you".

Have computers and the internet become a necessity of life? No more so than telephones or televisions. But whether you are running a small business, researching an essay, or hunting for a job, you are competing with others who have these resources, and at a handicap without them.

The Kawartha Internet Users Group was formed several years ago for the express purpose of promoting use of the internet within our communities. If you can help out, or need help yourself getting started, contact them at 738-6039 or apanter@kawartha.net, or come to the next meeting: 7:00 pm, April 13, at the Lions' Club, Main St., Bobcaygeon. The "feature topic" for the April meeting is scanners. (This was planned for the March meeting, but cancelled because of the weather that evening). We'll show you how to scan pictures into the computer, how to email them, or post them to a "bulletin board" site on the internet. If you have some photos you would like scanned, bring them along, and a diskette on which to store the files.