Nicker on 17/10/2025 at 12:35

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And I didn't know that Tocky was the spawn of Spike Milligan!!

https://cdn2.penguin.com.au/authors/400/96942nz.jpg :D

Tocky on 18/10/2025 at 00:02

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That is Dunsmuir mansion. Not to be confused with the Dunsmuir mansion in Oakland which was used in the movie "Phantasm". Same family though. I learned from Nicker that they are a coal magnate family. He did indeed teach me many things, half of which I'm sure I've forgotten, but that isn't his fault.

Interestingly while I stopped at a convenience store a lady behind the counter asked me if I was from Mississippi. Vancouver Island and she pinpointed me. I asked how she knew. Her best friend is from there and she loves the accent. I did not know I had one strong enough to pinpoint. Nicker doesn't. He could be from anywhere in the Midwest (though he could have thrown me off by not saying the word about). But yes we are old. I assure you completely incomparable to anyone living or dead though I may wish to have Spikes accent.

Rena was quite taken with Nicker. He is an amusing and lovable guy. Too bad the weather haunted us there. It did the same on Mount Rainier. We slept atop Paradise then woke to predictions of two to three feet of snow on the way and got the hell down the mountain before it hit. Had I known I would have started my trip in early September. Ah well. Next time. We did see a lot in such a short time. Canadians are as gracious as you think they are. Banff is very crowded and expensive though. Nicker said it was known as "Be Aware Nothing For Free". Seven dollars for thirty minute parking bares that out. Still, the money lasted, the car lasted, and my body lasted. Some of the cities I drove through were enough to drive me insane though. Calgary, Seattle, and Vancouver were awful. The mountains were lovely enough to make up for it though. And I'm glad I didn't miss the Space Needle despite bumper to bumper twenty mile an hour six lane traffic all the way through Tacoma.

I have pictures if anyone wants. We even found the exact latitude and longitude of the end scene in Se7en. Of course we reenacted it. Oh and I got to use the inside KM part of my speedometer in Canada. For the first hundred miles I was quite the law breaker. I mean, Kansas had 80 MPH signs so....

Tocky on 18/10/2025 at 00:28

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Here is the Kill Bill church which is also in Lancaster. Not far from the Terminator 2 gas station which some Ahole bought and put a fence around.

https://i.imgur.com/6czI5lY.jpeg

Nicker on 18/10/2025 at 04:25

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The Dunsmuir's were the archetypical grasping Robber Barrons. Hatley Castle was their second and larger castle on the South Island. WHy stop at one?

It belonged to the eldest son, James. Hatley has been the setting for dozens of movies and TV shows and is Xavier's college in the X-Men movies. It was a remote escape for James, surrounded by several hundred hectares of dense forest, invisible except from the water. Perhaps the sea-breeze in the cypress trees masked the wailing ghosts of the hundreds of men (and boys) who perished in his family's hellish coal mines.

Craigdarroch is the opposite, perched atop the tallest hill close to downtown. Craigdarroch Castle was the trophy home of patriarch, Robert, for whom the pre-Christmas magic Ebenezer Scrooge was a woke liberal stooge.

(https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-AXgt1hGiCg/maxresdefault.jpg)

The Old Man wanted everyone to know he was the richest fuck in the Pacific Northwest. When completed in 1890 it was clearly visible from everywhere that mattered. Very sadly he never got to sit in his Disney before Disney, waffle-cone topped watch tower. He died before his final will was signed, leaving his wife and their two sons to savage each other in court over the spoils.

The Dunsmuirs were not the worst of their era but it wasn't for lack of ambition.

Fire Arrow on 28/10/2025 at 05:14

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I don't know why I came back here now of all times, but do you want to learn from my failures?