Daytripping Summer 2022

The
Daytripper
TOWN NAME, TOWN NAME and another awesome TOWN NAME
JULY 9th:
Clifford Carnival Celebration
Festivities, food, + fun for all
at Clifford’s Carnival!
AUGUST 13th:
Harriston Street Party
Join the party downtown
with Harrison Rising!
SHOP
LOCAL
Summer!
SEPT. 23rd–OCT. 16th:
Culture Days
Explore local arts & culture with
free activities throughout Minto.
Come explore our unique shops + vibrant towns located in the middle of everywhere!
CLIFFORD | HARRISTON | PALMERSTON Visit town.minto.on.ca/events or follow @townofminto for the latest updates!
NEWFOUNDLAND STORE
Everything you’d expect to find,
including Atlantic seafood
519-338-5008
@shopbeyondtherock
17 ARTHUR STREET EAST, HARRISTON OPEN TUESDAY-SATURDAY
6 ELORA ST., HARRISTON • 519-901-0220
990
0220
2
0
GIFTS, HOME DÉCOR & MORE!
A Large Selection of Gifts,
Home Décor, Fashion and Jewellery
519-338-3230 • 16 ELORA ST. HARRISTON
www.achesonpharmacy.com
Unique Fashion Boutique
TAKE TIME
TO BE UNIQUE!
You never know what you’ll find
in our little tle clothing store, but
we know you’re going to love it.
STOREWIDE CLEARANCE E
20-50% OFF til SEPT. 2022
MON-THURS 9-4 • FRI-SAT 9-5
DAVIE’S ANTIQUES
6,000 0
Square Feetet
of
•Glass•China
•
a
• Furniture
• Old Hardwaree
& Tools
• Nostalgia
2nd Floor
FLEA
MARKET
Collectibles,
Antiques
& Toys
Open 7 Days
9am to 5pm
43 Elora St., Harriston
519-338-2449
On Weekdays Watch Us Make...
Alpaca Socks, Yarns & Rovings
through our viewing window!
5509 Hwy. 9 between
Harriston & Clifford • 519-327-4566
www.alpacatime.ca
A One-of-a-Kind ESCAPE ROOM
in a remarkable heritage building
Beat the Clock • Climb the Tower
Ring the Bell for all to Hear
EscapeTheOldPost.ca
Visit the
Alpacas
May to September
Mill
& Store
Year Round
Summer
Hours:
Monday to Friday
9am-4pm
Saturdays
10am-3pm
39 Elora Street South,
Harriston • 519-510-2222
It was only a little more than a hundred
years ago that there was no such thing as
recorded sound or radio or television or
telephone. These things didn’t exist. And
didn’t exist ever before that either.
Do you know what that means?
It meant that the only human voices
you ever heard were from real people
within range of your actual hearing. ‘In
real time’ as the phrase goes now.
And the only time you heard any
music was from the very actual
instrument that was being played in
your presence.
There was no putting in a CD, DVD,
tape or record into your car (there were
none) or any other device to get instant
sound. There was no television, radio,
or cellphone either.
Right away can you hear the world go
quiet?
Your own voice or someone else’s
that you heard with your own ears at
that moment were the only voices you
ever heard.
Only the piano, or guitar, or violin, or
symphony orchestra, or any instrument
in live performance, being played at that
moment would be heard by you during
your life. This was the only time you ever
A Quieter Time
by
heard any music.
And how often was that? How
quiet was that?
Is it any wonder that people
loved to get together to socialize
- talk, play some music, dance?
It was such a delightful, rare
experience. New and plentiful
voices and music in a coming
together in one small area for a
moment in time - this must have been
greatly anticipated and relished.
The house you lived in would be quiet,
quiet, quiet, except for the voices of the
very people living there. Of course babies
would cry, kids can be rambunctious,
and adults can freely talk away in a
household. Plus there would be sounds
from any animals around. But one can
see the decibel level would be way down
immediately, except in extraordinary
circumstances such as a terrible storm,
or a noisy steam engine, or waterfalls, or
falling trees or rocks, or the pounding of
hammers, etc.
Everyday sounds were caused in the
moment by the actual thing making the
sound. A door squeaks. A floor creaks.
Dinner plates clatter a bit. The sound
of pouring water, the wind in the trees.
These sounds were made when you
heard them. Not before, not sounds from
some other place, not something not
there with you at the moment, such as
recorded sound gives you.
How about books? Almost dead quiet
except for the sound of the page turning.
I think therefore every sound would
be quite noticeable in this world of quiet.
And any unfamiliar sound would stick
Kenneth Lapointe
from Daytripping
Sept-Oct 2009 issue
out like a sore thumb and probably be
investigated.
The only time I’ve ever experienced
such quiet was when I was in the middle
of a wilderness setting in Ontario years
ago. Myself and four friends were on a
canoe trip, a hundred kilometres from
any human habitation. There was no
one else. There was no sound from any
machine, any car, any road, any human
whatsoever, except from our own selves.
We had no recorded music, radio, or
phones.
I remember at one spot thinking we
must be near a highway because of a
loud whooshing sound. I couldn’t figure
it out. What highway? There were none
around. Then I realized it was only the
wind blowing through the pines!
One could get used to it. It would take
a while though because of all the years of
being accustomed to the modern barrage
of sound we live with night and day,
including ‘white noise,’ which is simply
low-level, indistinguishable, continuous
background sound.
Perhaps we might wonder how
anyone in these older times could have
ever stood it. WAS IT ALL TOO QUIET?
Perhaps we could ask however - what
a different world, maybe a softer, quieter,
more relaxed world, are we missing?
Publisher’s note: I’m in the office by
myself as I read this Kenneth, and if I
eliminate the central air, the truck traffic
outside, the refrigerator compressor, faint
music from another computer and the
sound of my own typing, I’ll be left with
only the hum of 5 computers and a printer
to keep me sane.
Page 44
“Caution: remove infant before folding for storage” (label on a portable stroller)
Summer 2022