Do a mental walk-through of a typical day. Imagine waking to the clock radio. Does it run on batteries or have battery backup? You've completed the day's ablutions. Did you use an electric razor, curling iron, blow dryer? Did you need a lighted make-up mirror or drink brewed coffee? Did you use a space heater to ward off the morning chill or a heat lamp? Don't forget to factor in time to heat your bath water!

For breakfast, did you warm up toaster pastries in the toaster? Boil tea water on the stove? Electrically juice fruit or vegetables? Perhaps you flipped on the stereo to catch the morning news. Are you stocked up on batteries? Do you have a solar or battery-powered radio?

Next on the day's agenda is a little house cleaning. Do you have adequate disinfectant? Germs can be rampant with broken sewer mains. The vacuum cleaner won't run; do you have a decent broom, mop and pail? Practice composting. It makes one less reliant on the garbage disposal and feeds a sprouting garden.

Will you survive without the Internet? Did you make a hard copy of every important file on your hard disk? Let's hope the only copy of your address book is NOT kept in cyberspace. Don't plan on calling Aunt Nell with your cell phone. Your regular phone, should it be working, will be useless with call-clogged phone lines. A visit to Aunt Nell is probably not feasible either with inoperable traffic lights. How long will your gasoline or diesel last? This is an excellent reason to have a dependable bicycle.

This scenario is enough to set your imagination in motion. Continue visualizing the rest of your day and cooking the evening meal. Afterwards, what do you do for entertainment? In winter, daylight may be gone by 5 PM. Activities will need to be something other than watching TV or playing video games. Remember the good ole days of books, talking with your neighbor and playing Monopoly? It's back to basics time!