Half Way There

For those who enjoy the music of Jon Bon Jovi I can imagine you singing now:

Whoaoh, livin' on a prayer ...

Yes, I probably am, but also half way through my seventieth year. I'm now officially 69 and a half (plus a bit more, because I never manage to blog in a timely fashion). It seemed time to do another BIG thing, like dyeing my hair blue, only it had to be something I hadn't done before. So, I sent a sample of my DNA (sounds grand for spit in a tube) to Ancestry, for analysis of my origins, and waited (im)patiently for the email containing the results.

I also listened to a Sliced Bread podcast by Greg Foot on BBC Radio (still available on BBC Sounds) about the value and meaning of results from Ancestry DNA kits. It seems the results are dependent on how many other samples from the same background as mine Ancestry has on record. They can only compare mine with what's available. This affects the accuracy of the results.

Anyway, Ancestry claims to have thousands and thousands of samples to compare with, so I'll take what I'm given. If I don't like it I can disown the results because they're not all that accurate, are they? Win, win.

As it turns out, I might have some Viking heritage.

#25 #35 of 70

A note added in November:

Ancestry sent me another email saying that they have now added thousands of new records to their DNA database, which means there is a wider field for comparison. It turns out that I am only about one third Welsh, and more of me is English (so my Mum's side of the family was involved after all!) and there is hardly any Scandinavian blood present at all, maybe 1%. Oh well, it was a fun fantasy while it lasted.