I remember when we made the move to the Haliburton Highlands family, friends and business associates said, “how are you going to keep yourself busy up there”. Time and again Haliburtonians chuckle at the concept of being out-in-the-sticks and just watching the maple syrup run.
Virtually everyone I know up here has a schedule that would make your head spin. They may have more than one job, they definitely have more than one volunteer commitment and they make every attempt to sandwich in social and cultural events.
I was in a seminar yesterday that was conducted by a couple of city folks and it was pretty obvious they thought we had just wandered in from the woods. Not that they were condescending or flagrantly insulting, it was in their tone and manner that you could sense that they thought we were borderline bumkins. The body language of the group telegraphed to me that they had picked up on this. The people in the room were hard working business owners, artists and entrepreneurs who, in my experience with them, are as “with it” as you would meet in any community.
To take time to go to a seminar was a big investment for most of those people. I’m pretty safe in saying that people up here are just as time pressed as anyone in the GTA might be. It’s just different. Making businesses go and sustaining them is hard in rural, seasonal communities. On the plus side, there’s a lot of support between people. I could turn to virtually anyone I know and get some help if I needed it. I like that aspect of life in the Highlands.
Ssssh, I think I hear the Maple Syrup Running?
Mike Jaycock 