NNSL (Aug 05/98) - What do you do if you're 75 years old, single and possess the energy and vibrancy of a 16-year-old.

If you're Edward Sears, you find something to do like starting up a small business delivering groceries to seniors.

"I like keeping myself busy, said the white-haired soft-spoken gentleman.

"I'm flying this business, and we'll see what happens."

To place an order for groceries all a person has to do is call Sears at home and give him a list. Within minutes he's out the door, in his 1986 Ford van, driving to the grocery store and picking up the goods.

Grocery payment and a delivery fee of $5 is paid upon delivery, he said.

Sears doesn't expect to make much money delivering groceries. In fact he prefers to call his business a service. He figures the $5 will just cover the cost of gas in his van for each run.

"If I get enough customers I'm hoping to drop down to $3 a delivery," he added.

Sears said the reason he's aiming his delivery service at seniors is to give him an economic base. If anyone else calls upon his services, he won't turn them down.

Sears, who has never married, has always been a man on the move.

After retiring from many years as an engineer in the south and later from a post working for Revenue Canada in Ottawa, Sears sold all of his belongings, moved out of his apartment, bought himself a canoe and began a journey across Canada retracing the paths and waterways of early voyagers and fur traders.

During summer he travelled and during winter he stored his canoe and lived with the various aboriginal people he met along the way.

After four years and 10,465 kilometres under his canoe, Sears made it into Yellowknife.

"It's a trip I wouldn't want to make again," said Sears.

After settling in Yellowknife, Sears bought himself a car and travelled to the southern United States including Florida, Arizona and California. He spent his winters there coming back to Yellowknife during the summer.

"When you're free to go wherever you want all you need is a little bit of money in your pocket," said Sears.