We all have that one eccentric relative who always says and does the strangest things. In your family, who’s that person, and what is it that earned him/her that reputation?
My mind immediately went to my uncle C. We refer to him as ‘The Phantom’.
C has this tendency to just turn up unexpectedly and unannounced. He did it moreso when I was a kid and we lived in the country, and just out of the blue, we’d hear the rumble of his BMW motorbike pull up outside, and this tall figure in an all-white motorbike leather suit would get off the bike, and wander down towards the front door, undoing the top of his leathers, revealing his signature plain-black Bonds raglan tee.
Sometimes he’d just be passing through, on his way to visit somebody else, or he’d sometimes stay for the night, or even visit for a couple of days. He was such an incredibly private person, who seemed to have such an incredibly glamorous life, but I knew very little about him, other than what was filtered through my mum and my aunty.
Whenever we’d have big family events, like family reunions, we’d know in advance just who was coming, and how many were staying, so all my other uncles and aunties would bring all my cousins and I’d get really excited about seeing them all again, but uncle C was always the one we could never quite pin down. Sometimes he’d say he wasn’t coming, and then turn up the next day. Or say he was coming and then not show, so we never really knew what he was doing.
When my nan used to come and stay with us for 6 months at a time, he’d visit a little more often… and in saying that, he would generally only visit when nan was here. When she wasn’t, we would hardly ever see him.
Even now, he’s still quite mysterious to me… but that doesn’t mean that I’m not going to pretend he’s my favourite uncle when I want to go stay at his trendy little hotel overlooking Sydney Harbour when I’m heading to Sydney next time. lol.
adorablyobnoxious 