This is possibly the most difficult thread I have ever had to post as I face the fact that I have to return home to Scotland to earn a living for a while.

The first two applications to live and work in Canada were turned down on minor details and my third one is bogged down in a 15 month paperwork backlog and I have no idea if it will be granted. Each application has cost me about $1900 Canadian.

I have been waiting over 5 years so far for a permit to live and work here.

It is a fact of life that as you get older, some think you can no longer be a useful worker, especially at Sea, so the amount of paid work over the years has been going down to the point where I must have a second job to keep me afloat so to speak. I can not, and will not break the law in Canada so I must return to Scotland and get a job to survive.

But that is just stuff – the real reason for this thread is the wonderful way the people of Timmins rally round and just makes you feel so special when things are not going well.

So rather than being negative, I thought this would be a great chance to list day by day my last week in Timmins and the special, very special way the locals react to my situation.

So first of all, many would have noticed I was not my normal self at this years Fan Convention. I am sorry but it was difficult for me to think of all things Shania when I suspected that soon I would be unemployed and homeless. Tracy and Richard have been updated over the past few months, but I have to start someplace.... SO:

Went to A & P downtown to purchase food so I can cook meals and get rid of some of the pasta and tinned goods I still have left over, cooking makes me feel good, but bumped into an old Mendez drinking buddy/friend and ended up across the road so to speak at the Nikki’s Sports Gallery where Nikki heard for the first time I was going home after almost 9 years on and off visiting Timmins.

Got spoiled a lot by Nikki, and that is all I am going to say about that, but then got called by a chap who had just purchased my Philips high definition widescreen TV, I helped him move it into his house yesterday and he invited me this Monday round for Dinner and a chat. He is so pleased with the TV he and his Wife wanted to thank me in person. That is Timmins for you.

George and Teri of Timmins Web are going to look after my rather large CD and DVD collection. Chris and Sabrina (Timmins4ever) and Chris’s Mum have agreed to baby-sit my community radio broadcast gear, a heap of white goods and my collections of Photo’s and Artwork. George and Teri are giving me packing cases tomorrow.

Chris’s mother insists that she will run me to Timmins Airport for the 10:30am flight to Toronto on the 26th. All this goodness in the space of just one day. Shelly and her daughter (ex Simply Suds owners - now Timmins Airport Workers) will of by now seen my name on the passenger manifest for the 26th and I know that they will be concerned.

As each act of kindness rolls in, I will try document it and share with you, for this is the real reason I will miss Timmins so much and will always try and come back.

You are going to read some pretty uplifting and true tales in this thread, for I know the people of Timmins and the way they rise to any problem that touches them.

Best of luck Tom. Please keep us up to date.


-Chris

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Shania's Place
Shania: often imitated, never duplicated!!

"...Living, Loving, Laughing and Dreaming....."-Shania Twain

Good luck!
Hope there will be a happy end in the future.

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DOWN WITH BASHVILLE!!!

God Speed in your travels Tom - the Tower from Timmins will be truly missed by everyone in the city with a Heart of Gold. But - I hope you will be back to hoist a couple at FAN CON 4! Thank you for the fond memories at FAN CON 3.

Reg

Good luck Tom! Remember..It can only go UP! from here..

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NEW Shania album 'NOW' out September 29, 2017! Pre-Order it HERE !

I am sorry for you Tom. Hope things work out for you. You're right about Timmins too.

Steve

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WE DON'T JUST REMEMBER ELVIS......WE NEVER FORGOT HIM....Elvis Radio, CH75, SIRIUS/XM 24/7 Live from Graceland HAPPY 86TH BIRTHDAY EP!!! ONE BILLION+++ SOLD +!

Good luck with everything, Tom! I know what you mean about Timmins... it truly is "The City with the Heart of Gold", and I've missed it and the people who live there ever since I left after FanCon 3 in August. I didn't really get to know you that well at FanCon 3, but I hope that you can make it to FanCon 4 so we can spend more time together. I hope everything works out for the best for you! Take care, and make sure that, whatever happens, you still post on the messageboards often!

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Love
Forever And For Always,
*~Paige~*

Shania's Still The One, Forever And For Always!

I You, Shania!

53 DAYS UNTIL THE FIFTH ANNUAL WORLDWIDE SHANIA TWAIN FAN CONVENTION!!! GET READY TO PARTY HARDY!!!

Sorry to hear your sad news Tom, it has been very apparent from your posts that your heart is firmly in Timmins - and that was even before your wonderful walkabout during Fan Con, which you oozed enthusiasm and passion taking us round the local traders etc (thank you once again for that!)

Good luck with your travels back to Scotland, be safe.

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Hallelujah, Halleluiah
Let every man help his brother.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Make all our hearts blind to colors

Good Luck Tom. I hope everything works out for you back in Scotland!

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Debbie 'Cross-stitch'
(so named by Randall Waller)

"Find Your Self Esteem And Be Forever Free To Dream" - Shania Twain

Well thank you everyone for your good wishes. Yes Timmins is just a northern mining town, a little blue collar middle of nowhere sort of place, but only here do you see people, every bit a good as Shania Twain. My heart will remain here, and of course I have not given up on the resident permit, for I have one last chance in the pipeline and will just have to wait a few months more.

I wish I could say I will attend Fan Con 4, but I can not right now. I do not see my return to Scotland as going back, more like moving forward to the next amazing chapter of my life, and Chris - of course I will keep in touch, but I will be off the net for a while as I seek employment back home and sort out where I am going to live.

A bunch of former Mendez buddies took me last night to the MayTag as it is known locally. Shania played there when she was Eilleen and it is now a strip joint and lap dancing club. We do not have these back home. They got me pretty plastered and then paid for a few lap dances. I woke up this morning still smelling of the perfume. That is Timmins people for you.

OK that is it, Town house empty except for 4 cardboard boxes and some stuff in the cupboards which Chris (Timmins4ever) is going to use/look after for me.

Going downtown for a few goodbye's and a beer or 3 but must be home early as I still have to pack my clothes into my two battered Rigbags so I am ready for the short trip from just behind Medez in Melrose along the Airport road. Did you know the road is a dead end once it gets to Timmins Airport and the only way is to go back the way you came?

On the good news side, if a job I am shortlisted for right now pans out, I could be back in Timmins as soon as January of 2006! Now that would be fun. The other thing is I can contact the Canadian High commision and find out what the status of my resident application is while I am in the UK.

Hope it will turn out for the best for you.

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DOWN WITH BASHVILLE!!!

Good luck Tom.

Steve

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WE DON'T JUST REMEMBER ELVIS......WE NEVER FORGOT HIM....Elvis Radio, CH75, SIRIUS/XM 24/7 Live from Graceland HAPPY 86TH BIRTHDAY EP!!! ONE BILLION+++ SOLD +!

Thank you that was very sweet of you to post. I am a glass half full sort of chap, never glass half empty. I will be back, of that I am sure, it is just so sad I can not say when.

Thanks Steve, Luck is often a major factor in many things in life, but rest assured I will try and get back to Timmins without waiting for Lady Luck, but were she to give me a helping hand right now, I would be very pleased indeed.

I have a lottery ticket for a record jackpot in Canada and I am going to give it to one of the locals, a little down on his luck for I will not be here when it is drawn, and you know, should he win that would make me so happy too.