"our own personal history — which we really should know quite well..." I have to admit I don't really get this. I know this is a common sentiment, but I'm just

"our own personal history — which we really should know quite well..." I have to admit I don't really get this. I know this is a common sentiment, but I'm just not really interested. Every now and then my mother will drop a tidbit like "when I was horse riding around the pyramids..." and it'll be interesting. But in practical terms there's an infinite amount of things she could tell me and I'm not going to hear it all before she dies. I know there are others who are fascinated by these kinds of things, and I have nothing against that, but it mostly leaves me cold. It's an interesting juxtaposition to my interest in history - some of her stories about being sent to live with relatives in Ireland during WWII tie in nicely to my interest in that period - but I don't find it particularly enlightening on a personal level. I suppose it was best expressed during a series of programmes on Scotland by Jonathan Meades, where he's talking about the ancestry industry that's so strong there - "why should I be interested if my great, great, great grandparent with rickets hobbled alongside this river with their sheep?"