I've been to that rather British of Canadian cities, Victoria, as well as
Vancouver. Would you happen to hail from either of these points of
reference? I've always thought that you guys are doing a rather dandy job of
protecting your heritage.

Vancouver is God's gift to alive (and wealthy) humans and Victoria is where they go to retire. The days of the Brits are now history. The son of Chief Dan George (see Little Bigman with Dustin Hoffman) said that Vancouver is the best place on the Earth to live today because it is the only city that has all the Races of the world represented in large numbers. He thought the equality of diversity meant this is where we have the best opportunity to learn how to get along together.

I can afford to live in the desert-like environment of Kamloops, with a landscape that mimics Arizona during the years I spent with Paolo Soleri. Preservation and restoration work here is very interesting because of the dry climate. You get to deal with materials that were last handled by the very first white intruders (or settlers as some book say). Whip saw and axe marks from the mid 1800's still look fresh. If you need a whipsawyer or broadaxer, give me a call. (Sorry for the Ad here, but what with government cutbacks . . . ) The strapping for a cedar shake roof from 1877 that I recently replaced with new shakes, only had one set of nail holes before my new (square) ones went in. The original shakes were 125 years old and still working, but now only as thick as coarse paper in a few spots.

Upstairs in the museum I curate, is a log building thought by the most profound heritage thinkers to be the oldest cultural heritage structure in BC. What fun to see the installers of the new sprinkler system for the museum gleefully eyeing the log walls while holding their giant electric drill with a 4" bit. "Great spot to put the pipe here. Just wood! Won't dull the bit like that drywall next to it!"

The wonderfully articulate John Callan said it all in the last paragraph of his note of 17/11/2003 - 7:06 AM. He must have had a good sleep to wake up and quote something like that.