Hi everyone

We got home to the UK around midnight last night and have been at work today.I am a bit tired after the lack of sleep over the weekend, so please excuse any spelling and grammar mistakes!

Just to say thank you to all the lovely people we met over the weekend, who made Phil and myself feel part of the 'Shania Family'. We feel as though we have known you all a lot longer than 4 days.

We arrived on Friday afternoon and after checking into The Days Inn our 1st stop was the STC just to check if anyone was queing already! Needless to say they were not. Ist impression of the centre was WOW.(we only saw the outside because it was closed).

Saturday morning it was back up to the centre to look round, and it was superb. We then got caught by a TV crew because of our funny accents! The staff at the centre made us feel so welcome.
Meeting everone for dinner that evening was so nice.
Sunday was back up to the centre with the rest of the gang. What we didn't realise until we got there was that this was the start of the queue ( or the wait in line for anyone that doesn't understand our strange language in the UK).

We had to stay at the centre because there were rumours about the cars being towed if no one was with them.
It was nice and warm in the centre until they closed at 5, but then it was outside and back to the cars for the long wait
I hadn't heard Party for Two played much over here in England but the next few hours certainly made up for that. It's a good job the centre is not to close to any housing or we could have had some complaints.

The centre staff arrived with coffee and hot chocolate and pizzas were organised by Teresa from Ohio.
Claude somehow got coffee and delicious apple cider from Tom Horton's.
Everything was very welcome.
It was certainly a long wait until security opened the gates at about 8.30 am.

By 9.30 everone in the gang had got their wristbands and it was breakfast and a couple of hours rest.
Thank you Francesca for showing us the handprints and Shania Park in the afternoon. It was very kind of you.

We gave the kareoke evening a miss after ringing home and finding out that our son had sliced his face open on a hockey stick at school. I felt quite guilty about being so many miles from home and he had a problem.

Tuesday arrived and the waiting started again at about 9.30.
The excitement was growing and I kept checking my wristband to make sure it was still there.
Entertainment on the stage started at 10 and there were some excellent acts that made the time pass quickly.

Finally THE moment arrived and Shania took to the stage, I think at about 3.45. She looked absolutely stunning! She said lots of nice things about the centre and how Tracy should stand for Mayor. She left the stage all to quickly, and we started queing again to get into the centre for the meet and greet.

We could she Shania sitting in the centre signing and talking to people. Unfortunately because we were towards the end of the line, as we got into the centre someone shouted get what you want signing ready. Shania was now being quickly moved down the line by security and all she had time for was the 'concert scribble'. I have to tell the truth and say I was quite dissappointed with this. After all the build up it did feel a real let down. Please don't misunderstand me, it was not Shania's fault, she was just being pushed along by security. I think several of the gang felt the same way because most of us were in at the same time. What also annoyed me slightly that on the shuutle bus away from the centre a woman was bragging and showing people that she had 2 personalised autographs from Shania. This despite being given a sheet with the wristband saying 1 item per person, and then also being told while we were waiting in line, 1 item per person.
Obviously Shania being Shania I am sure she would never say to anyone that she was only signing 1 thing, so people abusing the system like this, slightly spoilt it for the rest of us. Having said all this, I would not have missed this weekend for anything, and I am just so grateful to have been so close to Shania. I will never forget it.

Dinner for the gang on the last night and Tracy and the staff joined us. It was fascinating listening to Tracy and her stories of the day. Thank you so much for sharing them with us Tracy.

Finally thank you to Shania, because if it wasn't for you we proberbly have never heard of or visited Timmins, and we certainly would never have met the wonderful people that we now know.

Hope to see you all next August

Teresa