Good Bye Timmins, here's to August 2004

[tower]

As I sit here in Timmins Web I am so sad to be leaving tommorow for the long flight back to Scotland. The more I learn about the people who make this such a special place to hang out, the more I just LOVE this town.

If you can, at least once in your life, come visit and hang out with these very, very special people in the City that truly does have "A Heart of Gold"

[shania-little]

wow Tom...sounds so awesome..maybe someday I'll visit it (maaaybe :p)

[Roger]

For sure the people of Timmins have been very hospitable both times I have been there. But there is a phenomenon in the Canadian north. This applies particularly in the far north, like in the NWT or Nunavut. People generally either love it up there or they hate it up there. If they hate it, it is because of the isolation, the incessant cold, the lack of amenities, etc. If they love it, it is because northern communities are very tightly knit. Everyone knows everyone and everyone has a place - so long as they fit in.


Roger

[~Lisa~]

For sure the people of Timmins have been very hospitable both times I have been there. But there is a phenomenon in the Canadian north. This applies particularly in the far north, like in the NWT or Nunavut. People generally either love it up there or they hate it up there. If they hate it, it is because of the isolation, the incessant cold, the lack of amenities, etc. If they love it, it is because northern communities are very tightly knit. Everyone knows everyone and everyone has a place - so long as they fit in.


Roger

Very nice said Roger :) :)

[Troll]

Have a safe trip home Tom

[ka-ching]

wow Tom...sounds so awesome..maybe someday I'll visit it (maaaybe :p)

We will go there someday!! Im sure :cool: That will be our next vacation together! :]

Have a safe flight home Tom!

[Shaniabomber99]

I know I'm going there some day too soon.

Carley

[aFinn]

Aaaaaawwww, it must be heartbreaking to leave Timmins for Tom. But he will be back very soon, the Fan Convention will be a fantastic opportunity to get to know Timmins and see the Shania Twain Centre and get to know other Shania fans, form friendships...

Hopefully as many as possible will have the opportunity to go there :D

[tower]

Well I am home again. Sad that I have had to leave so many nice people back in Timmins. I have paid in full my convention registration, but sad that only 15 in total have confirmed for this year so far and August is not that far away now with just June and July to go.

Register now at http://www.shaniatwaincentre.com on the link provided. I promise you this will be one of your better moves. If I can't make it due to work problems I will be giving my place away to a Timmins local.

[Roger]

The registration ain't over yet Tom. There have been a couple of more people registered since you left Timmins. If registation can keep up at that rate between now and August, we should have a respectable number of people at convention time.

Roger

[tower]

The registration ain't over yet Tom. There have been a couple of more people registered since you left Timmins. If registation can keep up at that rate between now and August, we should have a respectable number of people at convention time.

Roger Oh HECK I know it is early with over 2 months to go as yet, but I just want people on the Forums to commit to going.

I know many are too young to go without the parents but I hope those who can take time out to travell to Timmins in August for this years fan convention know that they will NEVER regret it.

I also want them to know, that just like everyone who has travelled to Shania's home town before them, they will be moved and changed by the people of this Northern City.

I want them to know that this is special, something that will connect them with fellow Shania Fans and Timmins locals and the Shania Twain Centre like nothing else can.

I want people who are sitting on the fence about registering for the 2004 World Wide Shania Twain Fan Convention in Timmins to know that this event will be better than last year, will raise more public money and awareness for Shania's good causes and help the Shania Twain Centre display even more items donated so kindly by Shania after every major event.

I want them to find out for themself the special magic spell the people of Timmins cast over us that keeps us like a moth to the light, returning again and again for more, in my case two or even three times a year.

This is somthing money can NOT purchase, like you Roger I can't even describe it or give the Timmins effect a name. All I know is that as a World weary traveller, I come back and feel so good for an age on my return to the UK.

I could turn this thread into the size of War and Peace given examples of the Timmins effect, everything from a return Timmins/Toronto flight time change to give me a longer time in bed on my last day, to a Barbicue/Brunch and Local historian house visit, to Hotel Beds being made available when non existed, buses stopping to ask if I needed directions, Golfers offering me a game, Shop assistants drawing detailed steet maps... I could go on and on, Bob knows the score, YOU know the Score Roger. I just hope someone reading this will take a chance on this report and register today. It will be one of the smartest and enjoyable things they will do this year!

That is a Tom Waller Promise!

[tower]

Aaaaaawwww, it must be heartbreaking to leave Timmins for Tom. But he will be back very soon, the Fan Convention will be a fantastic opportunity to get to know Timmins and see the Shania Twain Centre and get to know other Shania fans, form friendships...

Hopefully as many as possible will have the opportunity to go there :D

Yes it is heartbreaking to leave Marika. Though Timmins is a City of 47,000 it really is a small town for the tourist. Just like the rural and remote parts of Finland, Norway and Scotland people here have two or even three jobs to make ends meet. Everyone in Timmins has a story to tell, and will listen as you tell yours. When was the last time someone took time out to listen to you? Here it is the normal and polite thing to do so.

I was in a Tavern called Simply Suds 2, the original in the Porcupine Miners Union Building near the Days Inn is now going to house Don's Pizza emporium. Simply Suds II has moved up from the Days Inn on Algonquin opposite Subway. The owner also works Timmins Airport.

On hearing over the Bar that I could not get a decent time as all the later flights were reported as full on the internet and I would have to catch the 06:30am and hang around Toronto Pearson for a whole day, she used her 'other job' inside information to transfer me to the 10:30am flight with no fuss or bother. The first I knew about it was the Job had been done. She would take no payment, I could not even buy her a soft drink.

Can you just imagine that happening at Heathrow or any other major Airport. This sort of special treatment is not reserved just for me, it happens all the time and this is what I call the "Timmins Effect". This is the very essence that make it "The City with a heart of Gold".

To understand just exactly what makes Shania Twain such a special person, you have to travel back to her roots and the special town she likes to call home.

For it is the people of Timmins who shaped Eilleen Twain, every bit as much as her parents. You see 'versions' of Eilleen in almost every shop, garage, Motel, Tavern and public transport all over Timmins. Heck some of the Girls here are better looking too! I kid you not.

During my visit it was my pleasure to pass on to 11 and 12 year old children at two French schools in the city a slide show about my recent Antarctic adventure. I will have to travel a long, long way to find a more well behaved, well turned out and motivated bunch of kids in this world of ours.

It is so, so difficult to put into words what makes Timmins the City with a heart of Gold. I just know I get it, I want to live in Timmins and be a part of something I see as so special.

Despite the weather, the isolation, the local economy - there is a force for good about this town I want to join with. As a Seafarer I have seen my share of the misery and poverty that fills the majority of this World, Timmins is NOT a rich town, but the people who live there are full of a different kind of wealth. One that only a few can see from the outside unless they take the time to get to know these wonderful people that make up the North of Ontario.

Despite there poverty, you can leave cash or goods on the counter of a shop and you will be chased down the street in an effort to return it to you.

Ask any Shania Fan who has taken the trip and visited the Shania Twain Centre, for even a casual visit will give you a buzz, just like Shania sings in "Rock this Country.... "let's get something started now" a song no doubt inspired by what I still can only call the "Timmins Effect".

Along with Richard, I was luck enough to be able to get on stage with Eilleen and despite the fact that we were in the full public glare of 13,000 Shania Fans, all I saw was a Timmins Girl - Polite and graceous, more worried about my welfare than her own safety. I know now where that comes from and I want to support that community as best I can. Shania even had to remind me that I may want her autograph on my poster, I just felt like I was back in Timmins.

I can't explain it any better and get frustrated at times my brain will not fit words to my feelings. Try make the Fan Convention, if not this year then next. You will then understand and perhaps be able to put into world an abstract feeling that I still struggle to describe fully.

I sat up till 4:30am today watching Calgary beat Tampa in the playoff's for the Stanley Cup.... Where did that come from? It's the Timmins effect and I never want a cure. I missed being with my friends in Nikki's Sports Gallery cheering Calgary on.