A Breed Apart

I am convinced that every child should have an English bachelor uncle. Married uncles (American or British) are usually someone else's father and tend to have a reasonable, responsible, well-adjusted way of looking at life. But a bachelor uncle is like Mr. Wiggs in the Mary Poppins book (remember the laughing scene?), and Captain Flint in Swallows and Amazons, and Great Uncle Matthew in Ballet Shoes. There is a touch of Bertie Wooster and Edward Lear and Professor Dodgson about him. Such uncles are not to be confused with contemporary playmates, but neither are they like parents. They are a breed apart. By very definition, bachelor uncles should be dying out, but let us hope that even unto our children's children there will be a hard core of ebullient eccentrics who answer to the name.

~ Joan Bodger
How the Heather Looks