Sunday, November 11, 2012

Only a month late eh...

I know I am getting older when my daughter gives me heck ... I must learn to be a bit more regular with my blog posting. Thank goodness Jenn has a sense of humour. She mentioned that she checked my news website on Friday to reassure herself that I am still alive! Oh yeah, okay, I get it. (Memo to Self) Phone more than once a month and update the blog.
Today was a good day, not just because of the chat with Jenn, but also because it is November 11th and there was a nice big crowd out in Timmins at the local cenotaph. There was snow on the ground, slush on the streets and it was chilly, but I was pleased to see so many people out to observe the ceremonies.
By the way, Jenn is doing well in her studies. She has a 4.0 GPA and says she finds the courses easier than she expected.  So that's a good thing. Scott has moved out of the shop and into the front office at his company. That's a good thing too... but I mentioned to Jenn the hardest thing about moving up the ladder at work is that he will be leaving some comfort zones behind. But he is a pretty bright guy so I am confident he will adapt.
I have been too busy at work now that we are expected to keep our news websites up to date more often. This is like rolling back the clock to my early days in news when I had to send in regular news reports to CKSO Radio in Sudbury. Every few hours, we had to file a new report. So I am back in one of my comfort zones.
There's lot of news stories in Timmins, despite it being a small town, and I find the more I get done on the website, the more the demand grows.
There was a time, back in the 70s, we would write a news story and then update it the next day. Now people want fresh updates three or four times a day on the internet.  It can be a bit demanding when there is only one person in the "newsroom" ... me.
Timmins is still struggling with the question of the new open pit gold mine. Goldcorp, the mining company, has been planning the new mine for the past six years, but true to form, people have waited until the last minute to voice their concerns.
It's what a lot of people are talking about. I am confident the new mine will be approved, but people will still grumble.  It is understandable, because the pit will be huge, as you can see in the photo, all of Gillies Lake would easily fit into one corner of the pit.
 On the other hand, gold still glitters in this town. Timmins never had to endure the Great Depression of the 1930s.  While the rest of the country had hard times, Timmins had lots of work and economic stability.  So it's hard to get too upset about gold mining.  Things will be different for a few years and then when the pit is mined out, there will be a new park with a new lake in the middle of town.
If I still have this blog ten years from now, it will be fun too look back and compare eh.

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