what effect it might have.

By all accounts, Bermuda is about as well prepared as it possibly can be, with Government, the banks and the major utilities all reporting that they are ready.

Fears that ATM machines, gas stations and other devices will crash as the clock strikes midnight on Friday seem to have been met with assurances that all precautions have been taken.

It is quite possible that some businesses and organisations, both large and small, will encounter some problems.

But, to paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, the greatest thing Bermuda has to fear is fear itself; panic buying and hoarding, a run on bank cash reserves and the whole Island picking up their phones at 12.01 to see if they still work (and thus jamming the telephone network) could be far worse than the Y2K Bug itself.

The question of how this problem (the computer calendar running on two digits instead of four, thus running the risk that computers will think it is 1900, not 2000) was allowed to continue for so long may never be fully explained.

The ordinary computer user's faith in the supposed genius of Bill Gates et al has to be shaken by the fact that it was virtually ignored until the last three or four years.

Still, it would appear that Bermuda and its major trading partners are prepared. And if something goes wrong, then Bermuda will have to deal with it.

The sun will still come up and life will go on.

REINVENTION EDT Reinvention Recently, Premier Jennifer Smith said in a speech that Bermuda's retail sector needed to reinvent itself. The same need is clear in areas ranging from the Civil Service to the tourism industry as a whole.

Last weekend, two events took place which show how the Island is changing and so far all the benefits appear to have been positive.

The Christmas Boat Parade saw hundreds of people take part in parading their boats while thousands gathered around the harbour to watch the event. These kinds of events help to bring the community together and can, in the long run, become tourist attractions as well.

On Sunday, several Hamilton shops opened for business for the first time and say that the experiment was a success.

Changing business practices to meet the customer's needs is, ultimately, the only way that retail business will thrive in Bermuda. Sunday's special hours show that at least some of the Island's businesses recognise that.