“The Town and The Mill” – A Great Place to Live

Transcript, as narrated by Andy Clarke:

Yes, Arnprior is a great place to live. It’s nice for children to grow up in a place like Arnprior. They have so many good things to remember.

School doesn’t seem like fun all the time but even geography can be made kind of interesting when it’s tied up with your own hometown.

There’s Arnprior, 40 miles upriver from the capital city of Canada. Not as big as Montreal, Toronto, or New York, but big enough to be a fine place to live. And from Arnprior, shipments go to all parts of the world: to Australia, to China, to India, to Sweden, to the South American countries. It makes you feel you’re really on the map when you think of it. Kids have a lot of dreams about this world of ours. I guess all of us do.

“Oh boy, when I grow up, I’ll go to Africa and have a diamond mine.”

“My goodness, I wouldn’t want to live in any of those funny countries. When I get married, I want to live in one of those nice houses up the street.”

“Gee, I wish it was still the summer holidays. I’d be down at the wharf right now. I wonder how the fish are biting, it should be a good day. Gosh, Grandpa’s lucky.”

“Charlie, stop daydreaming and tell me: what are the principal exports of New Zealand? I’ve already asked you twice. What are the principal exports of New Zealand?”

Well, wool for one thing, Charlie, and there’s plenty of it right here in Arnprior. Lots of young people leaving high school this year will find their life’s work in Arnprior because of the woollen industry here. It keeps the young people at home. It keeps town alive. We’re right in the middle of things.

Ottawa is only 40 miles away and it’s a pretty cosmopolitan city with foreign diplomats and commercial trade offices opening up right and left. We’re less than an hour’s drive away on the Trans-Canada Highway.

And Arnprior is well-served by railways. The main line of the Canadian Pacific Railway runs through town. The Canadian National goes through, too. We’re also on a main truck route.

Yes sir, here the young people have the time and space to enjoy themselves without feeling they’re stranded in the middle of nowhere. Some of them go away to university and come back as engineers or doctors. And they don’t have to go very far from the old familiar landmarks to find lots of work in their chosen profession. We’ve got an up-to-date hospital her and good medical care means a lot.