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My many thanks to John Muir for sharing his
house and family with me for my stay at Elliot Lake. John is a Scot from
Banknock who came to Canada in 1981. (He says that in Banknock you daren't
walk the streets alone at night) :-)
Here I am going to share a few photos that I took while with him and a few
he provided...
John Muir and his wife May who passed away
March 2003 after 32 years of marriage
Lost but never forgotten!
John in his "Beer Garden" and his daughter
Jackie, grandson Brandon and his son-in-law Scott
Another shot of Jackie and on the right John
with his friend Linda and what an outstanding baseball cap he's wearing
:-)
Here is John's home in Elliot Lake and his
front garden
And his pride and joy, the bike!
And scenes from his beer garden :-)
This is a picture of John's Mum's Father and
family. John's Mum is on the extreme left
John's Father is on the left and right in
makeup as an extra in the Last of the Mohicans all filmed in Scotland. The
chap in the left in the right hand picture is Peter his Dad's younger
brother
And here is Jackie and Brandon with a Bear Cub
And boy does John have lots of certificates!
And John tells me this last one was the
hardest of all :-)
This is his dog Scruffy after his hair cut :-)
John now works at the Electronic Centre and if
you need a computer fixed he's your man!
When he first arrived at Elliot Lake he was a
mechanic in the Uranium mines
He also has a web site at
www.thenorthshore.com
And this is Brandon's favourite pet which he
lets his grandad keep in his car
And these last three pictures are his fellow
Scots and friends Bill, Joan and their dog Bonnie
John has had an interesting life in that he
left school to become an apprentice mechanic back in Scotland. The
story he tells is that from the age of 10 he helped his big brother
service trucks, etc. So when the school took the pupils around various
manufacturing companies John was introduced to the owner of the work shop.
Something must have rung bells with the owner as John was invited back to
meet him. In the second meeting the owner said that he asked everyone the
same questions - "What makes an engine go". John looked at him for a
moment and then asked "What kind of engine? A two stroke, four stroke,
diesal or petrol? The owner looked back and said four stroke petrol.
And of course as John had been working five years with his big brother he
was able to answer the question :-) The owner then asked John if he
could come back on the Monday and John said Yes. He then turned up
around 11am as he'd assumed this was just another meeting. The owner
greeted him with "What time do you call this to start work?" John,
somewhat flabbergasted said "But I though you just wanted to talk to me
again!" The owner said... you've got a job and you start at 9am...
then he got one of the men in the workshop to drive him home to get more
suitable clothers in which to work. John tells me he ran into the
house shouting to his mum that he'd got a job, shucking off his clothes on
the way to his room and finding his work gear and then dashing out to the
car which was waiting for him. That night he got a big hug from his mum
:-) He served with
his first company for some 10 years doing work on all kinds of vans,
trucks, etc. After some 10 years he found out that lorry drivers were
earning more than he did so he went and applied for an HGV licence and
took the course and passed at the first attempt. He then found great
problems in finding a driving job as he got the usual "No experience"
reply any time he applied. Feeling somewhat despondant he decided to go
and see an old school friend whose father owned a haulage company. When he
got there he met his friends mum who greeted him and asked how he'd been
doing. The the father came in and greeted him then asked what they could
do for him. John said he was looking for their son. The father said he was
out at the moment but could he help? So John took a deep breath and
explained his position. The father said... come and work for us... can you
start today? John said he'd love to start today but as his current
employer had done well by him he felt he had to give notice to him and so
John was to start the following Monday.
He tell an interesting story of his time with
them but one story I liked was when the big lorry on the fleet, a AEC
Mandator, couldn't bring a load up the hill to the yard. He'd come
bouncing into the yard to say that he couldn't get the load up the hill so
had left it at the bottom of the hill. The boss paused a moment then
turning to John said "Go fetch the load John". Now John's lorry as an
Albion Clydesdale, a much lighter lorry. Anyway, of John went with
his lorry, got to the bottom of the hill and then hooked up the load. Off
he set in really low gear (which is around 2 miles an hour). He managed to
get about 500 yards of a run on the flat to build up speed then took the
ninety degree turn and headed up the hill. As he was getting to the top he
could feel the revs slowing, black smoke pouring out the back, and just as
he got to the hill he managed to get the lorry over it but he was really
slowing and he could feel it was about to give up when he felt a nudge
which told him he'd made it. So he drove into the yard and asked the
boss "Where do I park it?". And I'm told the boss had a wide grin on his
face. In actual fact
John credits the boss as having loads of experience in all kinds of trucks
and situations and he knew that the lighter Clydesdale with it's extra
gears could likely do the job and he was right by the skin of his teeth
:-) Having found that
mechanics were now getting paid more than drivers John went back as lead
mechanic for another firm in Scotland and not long after that he saw the
job in the Falkirk Herald newspaper advertising for diesal mechanics for
mines in Canada. So after consulting his wife May they applied and he got
the job and hence his entry into Canada. John worked for a mine for a
while but as May wasn't happy he applied to transfer to the Dennison mine
in Elliot Lake and so he arrived.
John has a real gift for story telling and he
sure had lots to tell but after an accident at the mine he had to retire
and find another job and hence he trained as a computer technician and
that's what he now does for a living. He does however regret he couldn't
have stayed in the mechanical side. He did get accepted by two teaching
schools to do a 5 year course to teach what he knew best but the WVA
wouldn't pay for that and so here he is.
Do visit his web site at
http://www.thenorthshore.com
And this was my final meal at Elliot Lake -
Sliced Sausage, Fried Eggs and Chips - Thanks John! :-) |
