CMXCIX

So what did the Romans ever do for us

Well they didn't give us numeracy...

Five is V
Four which is one before five is IV
Ten is X
Nine which is one before ten is IX

A thousand is M
999 is one before a thousand so IM

Oh no - so I present blip: - one hundred before one thousand (900) plus ten before one hundred (90) plus one before ten (9)

What else might they have done - possibly introduced pigeon farming but there again that might have been the Normans (one letter more than a neat anagram of Romans)

So for Heritage Open Day weekend we were allowed inside the Dovecote at Pendeford built in the late 1600s.

June (centre bottom left) used to visit her brother two streets away and until I took her today she didn't know it was there!

OK tomorrow is the big "M" blip and I really don't know what to blip ... panicking starts..................................................NOW!