And so my Dear Shania Friends, I must leave you for a bit for shortly, very soon I will be removing the hard drives from this PC so I may take them home to Scotland, should I never be able to return to my beloved Timmins.

The warmth of the local people continues and today was just a little bit overpowering, even for this big tough old Scotsman, so I retreated early to my little one bedroom townhouse which I will miss so much. My two trusty Rig bags are packed and only a small backpack for cabin use and this workstation remain to be made ready for 9am Wed 26th October, the day I left Timmins for the first time since 1996 not sure of when I will return.

I have been loved and fallen in love in this tiny City that acts like a town, this wonderful place so isolated that many in Toronto less than 600 miles away have no idea where it is. But I am not sad when I think of the future and the fact that somehow I will get back and live here again.

For us Shania fans this is our Mecca, our place we have to visit at least once in a lifetime, so if you can please try and make the trip. Contact the STC and tell them when you plan to be in town if out of season and I promise you, the welcome will be as warm as the weather cold in the winter.

I am a sailor, well at least I was a sailor – for I am not so sure now I am 56, but having travelled the World I was shocked at the effect the people of Timmins have had on a World Weary traveller like my self. True it is too hot in the Summer and breathtakingly cold in the Winter, but I would not swap it for any other place in the World, for it is the people that make a place, not the weather – and I have seen, and still see something that few others have.

So just like a tiny little girl called Eilleen Twain, I leave with my head held high and will NEVER stop talking about Timmins where ever my life leads me. I know now how she felt when fame and fortune forced her to leave.

Just like Eilleen I suspect, when her misfortune forced the break up of her family, I am crying a little right now.

But I am strong and a little emotion is good for you for it let’s you know you are alive. Soon I will be in Glasgow, the largest City in Scotland…. Our Toronto and having the best time ever. I doubt I will go many days though before my thoughts drift back down south to the 49th parallel and the big town and the little City with a heart of Gold.

It may be a while before I can read this thread again, so bear with me if I am offline for a month or so.