Living, as I do, in a "matriarchal" Mediterranean society, Mrs Jennings-esque women abound! Sometimes, like Mrs J, they can be irritating, bordering on infuriating (or, if one has the temperament of a Marianne, beyond infuriating), but most of us wind up like the Colonel, ignoring their surface faults and appreciating the warm heart and sincerely good intentions beneath the chatty busy-bee surface.