St Andrew's day ink

[OC Richard]

...folks born in the UK really can't understand what it's like not to have history.

Sometimes it seems to be the reverse to me: so many Americans can trace their ancestry back several generations to a specific immigrant from The Old Country (whatever country that might be) and usually a specific place in that country. For example I'm descended from a guy who came to Jamestown from England in the 1620's, another who came to Virginia from London in 1762, another who came to Philadelphia from Co Cavan in the 1840's, and a family who came to Winnifrede, WV from Tywardreath, Cornwall in the 1880's.

My wife's boss is an English guy. One day the people in her office were talking about geneology and where they came from and he said that he had no idea about his family beyond his immediate relatives. Most Brits I've talked to seem to be like that: they don't think about such things because they didn't "come" from anywhere: they've 'always' been there.

We in the USA form organisations like The Sons of the American Revolution and we fondly recall our Civil War ancestors.

Can you imagine the English forming The Sons of the Battle of Hastings? They would laugh at the idea I think.