Don't waste your life - protect yourself, get Close Combat training

If you are fortunate enough to live in a close knit community, probably rural and isolated, you probably don't have to worry about crime and violence, rape, even murder. But in most major cities of the world, crime and violence, rape, road rage and even murder is often rampant and if you are not prepared for it, you may end up in serious problems. You may even lose your life.

Captain Chris Pizzo has a story to tell. He was almost stabbed to death by two attackers during a rage road incident. Loss of a life is a sheer waste since life is a precious gift from our Creator. Don't wait for a situation like what Chris Pizzo faced before you realise you need to prepare for contingencies like these. Don't waste your life by not getting close combat training, for if you get faced with a situation like Captain Chris Pizzo, it will be then too late to try to turn back the clock to get the crucial which may save your life.

According to Captain Chris Pizzo, in the 1920's and 30's when the British were anticipating having to face the mighty military machineries of the Nazi, they started a project to discover effective armed and unarmed close combat, and William Fairbairn was tasked with the project. Fairbairn was an expert in Jujutsu, Savate, and Kung Fu, Judo, Boxing, and Wrestling. My guess is that he combined the best of all the martial arts that he knew and combined them into a single, complete system of self-defence which according to Captain Chris Pizzo, is called Close Combat.

He chose what then was the most violent city of the world, Shanghai which was then cursed with opium gangs and much gang fighting, as a testing ground to try to find what works for close combat. Close Combat was born, taken back to England, tested again and proven by US, British, and Canadian commandos, spies, and special forces to be effective against the formidable Nazi military might.

Of course, not long after, with all the modern military weaponry, Close Combat was then considered no longer relevant and World War Two Close Combat was neglected for some sixty years. But fortunately for those who need it to survive a hostile environment, Captain Chris Pizzo somehow managed to find the three last surviving members of Close Combat experts and learned from them on a daily basis for years.

Now the World Leader In Self Defense, Captain Chris Pizzo can offer you The Truth About Martial Arts.

So don't waste this opportunity to learn techniques that can help you survive in the environment of crime ridden cities and not waste your precious life as you will then know what to do when faced with robbers, kidnappers, road rage bullies, murderers, and all the undesirable elements in our society.

Cut waste by shopping online with Shopwiki

I just became a grandpa of the youngest "blogger" in the world. My daughter plus son-in-law sure splurged on him. I am almost embarrassed to tell you how much they paid for a baby stroller. The baby stroller we bought for her elder sister, which then was used for her plus her siblings, was a very simple folding aluminium frame baby stroller bought from a then very popular budget baby stuff chain shop in London. I can't remember the name of the bricks and mortar merchant as it was more than 30 years ago (OK, now I remember - Mothercare). We used it to cart my eldest daughter all over Europe, then brought that budget baby stroller back to my home country after I finished my post-graduate study in Belgium and then was used for all my five children. Unfortunately, I cannot remember what happened to that baby stroller. It probably couldn't last beyond the 5 children, or perhaps it was given away.

But at least we kept the cloth diapers for that long 30 plus years and they are now being used by my daughter for my youngest grandson and the youngest "blogger" in the world, plus a happy "blogger". That is really something in this age of convenient throw-away society. I am proud that I, and at least in part, my daughter, is living up to the title of this blog "Zero Waste".

We probably could have cut waste even further had Internet been in existence then as we would probably then like doing online shopping with sites like online shopping website for babies and toddlers items. If you are targeting almost "Zero waste", put "budget" into the site search box at the top of the above online shopping website, and you may just get to a web page like budget babies and toddlers products.

One thing more I would like to do. Get budget present (hope no one start commenting in this post I am heartless, cheapskate, stingy poker, etc.) but would like to get a present for my first grandson some budget toys for babies and toddlers and the youngest and happy "blogger" in the world plus confirmed youngest blogger in the world. Now in case you want to know what is my attitude towards presents is, have a peep at my first grandson at his grandpa's 57th birthday gathering.

Also, please note that the title of this blog is ZERO WASTE. Hope my visitors don't get too hard on me.

Don't waste opportunity: Get credit card even with bad credit rating plus opportunity to rebuild credit rating

According to some reports, the number of people who are unfortunate enough to get a bad credit rating is increasing by the day. Such people will find difficulties in getting a very essential "tool" in our modern economy - a credit card. However, if you belong to this category of people, don't give up hope for help is available at Bad Credit Offers. Don't waste this golden opportunity at getting a credit card plus the opportunity to rebuild your credit standing. Just make sure you pay on time. They say you will get good credit history eventually if you do that.

According to BadCreditOffers.com which claims to be a free consumer resource set up to helping unfortunates with poor credit rating using their expert staff to continuously monitor the credit marketplace and bring the best "bad credit" offers available consumers. According to them, they will compile each day's top offers right and when I checked Credit Cards >> Bad Credit OK, I saw a list of 10 credit card offers with Category Ranks ranging from 1 to 10, with the credit card offer ranked 1 right at the top. Since the one with Category Rank 1 is placed at the top, I would assume that those with lower Category Ranks are considered better offers but could not find information on the site to confirm it. If you are considering using their free service and wish to make informed decisions, you should contact them at Contact Us - Bad Credit Offers.

Apparently, they don't just help people with bad credit ratings to secure credit cards, but also home loans. They have the Home Loans >> Bad Credit OK plus others like Home Loans, Auto Loans, Personal Loans, Credit Reports and Credit Repair.

So don't waste this opportunity. Credit cards are a great convenience and in these days of insecurity where carrying too much cash is not a good idea. More important is rebuilding your credit rating as I suspect credit ratings are not used just for financial services, but probably by others checking your character backgroun, etc.

Don't waste an educational opportunities. Alternatives if you have financial constraints

A proper education is one of the most prized possession that one can have, even more valuable than money or other assets like houses, land, etc. The Chinese (and I believe the Jews too) are known to place great importance on the education of their children to the extend of making great sacrifices to make sure they have the proper education.

However, very often, there may be constraints like limited finance. Education is expensive. How can one overcome such constraints?

Scholarships, fee waiver

One can try to apply for scholarship. Some universities give scholarships or fee waiver to deserving students. Some universities offer some kind of work to help students pay for their expenses like becoming a tutor, etc.

There are also foundations like the Ambassadorial Scholarships by the Rotary Foundation, the Jackie Robinson Foundation, Talbots Women's Scholarship Fund, Discover Card Tribute Award Scholarships, Association of periOperative Registered Nurses Scholarship, Citizens' Scholarship Foundation of America, Concrete Research and Education Foundation, The Electronic Document Systems Foundation (EDSF), U.S. federal government student financial aid programs, Hispanic Scholarship Fund, immune Deficiency Foundation Annual Scholarship Program, Indian Health Service Scholarship Programs, International Furnishings and Design Association Educational Foundation, ISS (Iron & Steel Society) Foundation, Lilly Reintegration Scholarship, Michigan State University’s Grants Page, The Minerals, Metals, and Materials Society (TMS), National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Scholarships, The National Institutes of Health: Undergraduate Scholarship Program, National Tourism Foundation, Ohio Newspapers Foundation, Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Polish National Alliance, Presidential Freedom Scholarships, Sallie Mae Scholarship Programs, Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation College Scholarship Award, Target All-Around Scholarships, Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW): Awards and Scholarships, Minnesota Students of Color, Korean Student Assistance Awards Program (KSAAP), Rhys Glynn-Jones Memorial South Pacific Scholarship Program, The American Cancer Society, The American Chemical Society, Tao Shing Pee Education Foundation, Peterson's Scholarships for Study in the USA & Canada, Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, GreenPoint Financial Corp., Zenith Foundation, The Women's Sports Foundation, The State Farm Companies Foundation, Seventeen & Covergirl, The Harry S. Truman Good Neighbor Award Foundation, Miss All-American Latina Scholarship competition, Land Economics Foundation, Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting, The Nina Scholars Program, Amazon Foundation, Business and Professional Women Foundation, The Chautauqua Region Community Foundation, The National Tourism Foundation Scholarship Program, Association for Women in Science, Datatel Foundation, Edison International Scholarships, Blakemore Foundation, John G. Williams Scholarship Foundation, The ASCAP Foundation, The American Dental Association Endowment, The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation, Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program, The Posse Foundation, International Education Foundation, Armstrong Foundation Scholarships, Joe Francis Haircare Scholarship Foundation, Electronic Industries Foundation, Electronic Industries Foundation, American Library Association, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), John Starks Foundation Scholarship, The Datatel Scholars Foundation, The AISE Steel Foundation, The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, Entente Cordiale Scholarships, Orange County Community Foundation, Franklin Lindsay Student Aid Fund, Greenpoint Foundation, Scotiabank International Scholarships, The Pittsburgh Foundation to Award Fashion Design Scholarships, Millennium Scholarship, ASM International Foundation, The Johnson Scholarship Foundation and a whole lot more. If any one of the above interest you, type or copy-paste the term into the search box above, tick the radio button (.) beside WEB and click search to search for their website.

In Singapore, there is the Lee Foundation and the Singapore 2000 BCA Construction Industry Scholarships. Singapore is also notorious for luring bright students to Singapore with scholarships. They even go to the extent of going around the world to head hunt for talent. One of my colleague who was sent oversea to pursue his Master degree in Plastic Technology by my college was head hunted by Singapore and ended up teaching in the Nanyang Technological University. They even paid for the penalties for him breaking his contract. My country which makes getting government scholarships and/or university admissions difficult for some races have lost many great talent to Singapore. My Plasma lecturer was lured to teach in a Singapore because he never got a chance to get promoted in my university. This is not related student study loan, but my former statistics lecturer Dr. CK Cheong, was lured to Singapore to become the CEO of SIA (Singapore Airlines) and led SIA to become one of the most successful airlines in the world, if not the most successful. Just mentioning it to show the extent to which Singapore is willing to go to get the brains to power their economy to greater success. If your country do not offer you the opportunity, do consider Singapore. You may find wide open welcoming arms.

However, not everyone will qualify for the scholarships, or want to study in the field which is specified for the scholarship, or are not resident of a designated state. What do you do then? Give up and waste your talent? No - there are alternatives.

Private Student Loans

One possibility is getting a Private Student Loans to help get you through college. Loan means you will have to pay back for the loan after you graduate and start working. But that is much better than giving up and not going to college at all because of lack of finance. There are various places where you can apply for a student loan. One of them is NextStudent.

Now, you may already have a private student loan or perhaps even more than one private student loans. These loans have carry high or varying interest rates, and you would like to get a lower interest rate or consolidate your student loans into a single loan for convenience or to change from an unpredictable varying interest rate to a stable fixed interest rate which makes planning easier. This is possible via Student Loan Consolidation.

Other than the advantages of consolidating your student loans into one above, other advantages may include reducing the monthly repayments and/or getting a longer term to repay the loan. Check out the possibilities at Student Loan Consolidation.

Benq 20" Wide TFT LCD Monitor Model Q20WS: Don't waste your money on this computer

I recently ordered 2 LCD monitors, one to go with my new dual core processors computer, and one for my son. The monitor's details are as follows:

Benq
20" Wide TFT LCD Monitor (Version 3)
Maximum resolution WSXGA+ 1680*1050
Rating: 100 - 240V, 50 - 60Hz, 1amp

Product Name: (blanked out for privacy as I think this is only for this particular monitor)
Model: Q20WS
Brightness: 300 nits
Contrast: 1000:1
Response time: 5ms
Senseye Technology
D-Sub/DVI Dual Input

I previosly had to pay through my nose to replace a switch on a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitor a long time ago. After that, I resolved never to connect a monitor direct to the computer, but to get the electrical power by plugging into a socket on an electrical extension cable plus a row of power sockets (power strip). The reason is that I my computer is on practically the whole of my wakining hours and sometimes when I am half way through a task, I leave the computer on and switch off the monitor when I take a rest or when I go to bed. This obviously is to save on electricity useage, my electrical bill and also because I am environmentally conscious.

The problem with Benq 20" Wide TFT LCD Monitor is then once you switch the monitor on, when you switch the power on again, the monitor will remain off until you switch it on from the switch on the monitor itself even though you never touch it when the monitor is powered off. I made a support request to Benq and got the response that the reason for them designing the monitor this way is to protect the monitor from damage from a power surge. I replied that to the best of my knowledge, power surge is dependent on the electricity supplier and not when you switch on a computer. Power surge can occur anytime. Power surge damage to electircal appliences can only be protected by a power surge protector and not by forcing the user to switch the electrical appliance using a built-in switch on the electrical appliance itself. I said I verified this with the local office of the electricity supplier. In any case, non of my previous monitors had this feature and non of them were ever damaged by power surge irrespective of whether they are LCD monitors or CRT monitors.

I asked how much would it cost to replace the switch if it ever failed and found that it was more than 10 times more than if I just replace a faulty electrical power extension cable (power strip)

I asked how by forcing their LCD monitor users to switch the monitor on with the built-in switch protect their monitor from power surge damage. I never got a response. I told them that I will be publishing my problem with their monitor on the Internet and this is what I am doing now.

Related post:
Will provide links later when I find the time to do them. One of them will be on an environmental blog Enviroman Says

Lenders and brokers: Don't waste this opportunity

Are you a money lender or a broker for money lenders? If so, here is good news. You can get 5 free leads from mortgage leads just for signing up with them. Why are they being so generous? That is because they are so confident that you will get satisfied and impressed with what they have to offer that you will likely want to continue with their services. They are confident that their innovative application process will provide you with quality leads to potential borrowers.

Not convinced? Well, you can read more about them and what they have to offer at About ModernLend. They say they offer lenders one of the lowest fee structures in the nation for and thus enable lenders to pass massive savings to applicants of home loans for purchases, home refinancing, home equity lines of credit, and home loans for new construction. Modernlend currently don't charge applicants any fees and so would be in a position to attract good borrowers.

Five free leads just for signing up!!! What are you waiting for? If you are a lender or loan broker, don't waste this opportunity! Fill up this simple Lenders registration form and you will be on your way to getting 5 potential borrowers.

Holiday gifts: Aim for Zero Waste and do it the environmentally friendly way

I used to travel. I traveled around Europe and the England when I was a student in Ghent, Belgium. As usual, there the souvenir shops. I remembered buying stuff like Swiss Army knives, cuckoo clocks, Dutch clocks, Scandinavian dolls, trinkets from Rome, etc. as gifts to bring home from my travels.

Then there are the holidays (festivals) like Christmas during which one is expected to buy Christmas gifts for loved ones and for events like gifts exchange. Shopping for gifts is not easy. I hope with the arrival of the golden age of the environmentally friendly Internet, the days of driving around to shopping malls to shop for gifts will soon be over. For the sake of our fragile environment, let us use the cars less and the environmentally friendly Internet more for our shopping.

Today is 3 November, and December 25 (Christmas) will soon be upon us. The That is the same thing as saying that the gift season is going to be with us soon. Going to buy your Christmas gifts the conventional way, that is by driving your car to the shopping mall? I hope not, I hope you will get into the environmentally friendly Internet instead, make comparison, choices and purchase your Christmas presents from one of the online merchants like that one.

Further, I hope you will also aim too for ZERO WASTE by choosing your gifts carefully so that is will be relevant, suitable and likely to be useful for the final recipient and not end up in a corner unused. A very simple is this illustration, choose a Christmas present for your husband or for another man from gifts for him. This SERP (search engine result page was obtained by using the search term "gifts for him" in that site's search box. Or perhaps gifts for her. This list of gifts was obtained by clicking on "Perfume" in the list of " Top 20 Picks for the Holidays" in the site linked to from the first link above.

There, you see, there are lots of ways to do a smart comparison shopping to get good holiday gift ideas and aim for ZERO WASTE.

Use gift cards : Avoid waste and prevent headaches

Buying gifts for family, friend, relatives, colleagues. It is a task I hate. For one, I have to scratch my head for a suitable gift to buy. For another, I would have to drive around to shop for them in shopping malls, etc., burning up precious depleting fossil fuel which result in green house gas emission and contribute to global warming. If you are a regular visitor of my blogs, I have a soft spot for the fragile environment, our one and only Spaceship Earth with no lifeboat. Where can we go if something bad happens to our only Spaceship Earth with no lifeboat. Migrate to the moon? That is science fiction and beyond reality.

Some people like shopping for and receiving gifts. I don't. I don't have even a tiny talent for gift ideas and would be hard press to come up with some very good gift ideas. If I need to get gifts for people, I would rather pay for it and leave the choice to them, for after all, they are the ones who are going to use it, and will have a much better idea of what items would be of use to them. Further, there is no need for gift wrapping, for that means using paper, which also means cutting down trees to make the paper. And after unwrapping the gift, what do they do with the gift wrap paper? I used to unwrap the gift slowly, trying my best not to damage the gift wrap paper, and keep them for reuse. But I don't really know how many people on the receiving end will appreciate my effort at conservation and reuse.

You may also know I hate waste. One of the reason I hate buying gifts is because I can never tell if the gift I buy will be of use to the receiver, or if it will be left in a corner to languish, unused. In fact, I have an issue with receiving gifts as you can see from this post: My first grandchild at his grandfather's 58th birthday gathering.

But popular gift cards may be a different story. In the first place, the gift receiver gets to choose his own gifts. In the second place the gift cards merchant has taken the trouble to take into account the preferences of his customers and the gift cards listed the popular ones there which is there as a result of the decisions of a wide spectrum of customers and would thus probably represent collective wisdom, and thus ending up with a gift card that are of use to the receiver is better.

Of course, you are free to search the whole selection of all gift cards available. Not only that, at this site, on the left sidebar, you will see gift cards categorized according to price range and store.

Have a particular preference for a particular store like Amazon Gift Cards? Amazon, the most successful online merchant I believe is one with the widest selection of gifts, and thus the best chance of your gift recipient will be able to get something that he or she needs.

The gift cards merchant also have provided a search box for you to search for gift cards according to the search terms you input. Plus you can do all this online from the comfort of your home right in front of your computer. No driving around to shop for gifts in shopping malls, etc., burning up precious depleting fossil fuel emitting green house gas emission and contributing to global warming. ZERO WASTE.

Don't waste opportunity or money. Use bridging finance

Bridging finance

What exactly is bridging finance? Bridging finance are used when you have need of fund now or in the very near future while waiting for come cash inflow in the further future. A good example is when you sell a house or other properties. The proceeds does not come to you immediately as normally as there are formalities that need to be completed such as getting a court order to sell the property if you happened to be a trustee for some properties for some beneficiaries, or for the transfer of the title to the new owner to be completed, etc. In the meantime, you may have come across a great investment opportunity which cannot wait for the proceeds of the sales to come through. Because you can't get your hands on the sale proceeds, you may have wasted a great investment opportunity. However, with the availability of bridging finance, you can get that bridging finance to put your down payment or perhaps even full payment for that great investment opportunity. By using bridging finance, you would thus not have wasted on that great investment opportunity.

Bridging finance are often used by developers of new properties who need cash to proceed with the development, but will only be paid when the properties are completed. Without bridging finance, the developer is stuck and cannot proceed with the development as he does not have the funds at hand. With bridging finance, he can proceed with the development and when the properties are completed, and the purchasers have paid for their completed projects, the developer will then have the funds to repay the bridging finance plus some left over as his profit. Profit making opportunities are thus not wasted by the developer because of the lack of fund.

Other examples are when you enter into a contract to purchase a property. The payment is due, but for some reasons, your funds may be tied up. Thus when you are unable to make the payment on the due date, you lose your deposit plus the property. If you are confident that the funds will eventually be available, you can apply for bridging finance to make the payment on or before the due date and not lose your deposit or intended purchase.

If you are in such a situation, and you happens to resides in South Africa, you have Smartbridge to turn to. Bbridgebond says they offers bridging finance and homeloans to the public with the lowest finance rates in South Africa plus they say they are fast and a applicant can be paid out the same day if all paperwork is complete and in place.

With the amazing Internet, you can have the convenience of filling in an application form at home at Bridge Bond online Home Loan Application. Truly ZERO WASTE. No waste of time, no wast of paper, environmentally friendly, no burning of precious depleting fossil fuel driving around to search for a suitable provider of bridging finance, spewing off green house gases and thus not contributing to global warming, zero wastage of investment opportunity or hard earned money in the form of deposit forfeited. What more can one ask for?

There is an almost similar online application form at Bridge Bond: switch a bond Application, but it looks pretty similar to the one above. What is the difference, I don't know. The only difference I could see is that the first one says "Home Loan Application" and the second one says "switch a bond Application". The rest looks the same to me.

If you are in South Africa and in need of bridging finance and want to strive to achieve ZERO WASTE, maybe you should fill in both and see what happens.

Wiser way to visit Italy

I visited Italy with my family in the 70's when I was a married student in Ghent, Belgium. It was not on a guided tour, as I don't like guided tours where they bus you hurriedly from place to place. I went on my own. That means I have to look for accommodation on arrival. Not a very pleasant situation. For one, I have to waste time searching for suitable accommodation when I could have been using the precious time to go sight seeing. Another thing is, you never know if you got the best deal. There was no such thing as the Internet then.

Now with the Internet, you have online hotel booking sites like hotels in Italy. Now from the convenience of your home, you can browse for a hotel in a location of your choice and pick one that suits your needs and budget best. Plus they have a Lowest Rates Guaranteed which gives you the assurance you will be getting the best available deal. This would be a wiser way to visit Italy, and will be what I will probably use if I am ever going to visit Italy again. Zero Waste of time and money.

I visited various cities then. Among them was Rome and Venice.

Rome, capital city of Italy

Rome, I am sure you already know, is the capital city of Italy. And of course I went to the Colosseum or Coliseum, or what used to be referred to as the Flavian Amphitheatre. It is the icon of Rome, perhaps even of Italy and is right in the center of Rome. The Coliseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public events such as executions, re-enactments of famous battles, etc. It had been damaged by earthquakes and stone-robbers, but is still one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions. The photo you see on the left is a photo taken from Yahoo travel, Rome.

There are other places of interest like the Pantheon which is dedicated to the seven planetary divinities and its interior is graced by beautiful, There is also the Roman Forum (Foro Romano) which used to be the commercial, political and religious center of ancient Rome. The Trevi Fountain which in Italian is Fontana di Trevi and is the largest fountain in Rome. It is said that if a tourist throws a coin into the fountain, they will eventually return to Rome. 30 years is too long for me to remember if I threw a coin into the Trevi Fountain, so I can't be sure of visiting Rome again.

But who knows the future? A revisit to Rome may be on the cards. If that ever come to pass, I will not do the same thing as I did during my past visit. I will get online from my home computer and go to online hotel booking sites like hotels in Rome prior to departure and not waste time hunting for accommodation on arrival.

Vatican City

The Vatican City or more accurately, the State of the Vatican City, is located smack in the center of Rome. It is the smallest independent state in the world. Among its tourist attractions is the Sistine Chapel. The photo on the left is a photo of Sistine Chapel, Vatican City taken from Yahoo Travel. Another popular attraction is the St. Peter's Basilica which some consider as one of the finest Cathedrals in the world, and the spiritual center of the Vatican. Others include the Vatican Museum, St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) and the Vatican Grottoes. A popular activity in the Vatican City is to send a mail from there as the Vatican City has its own post office and it is said that mail sent from there reaches its destination faster than if sent from Rome's post offices just some short distances away.

Venice. also called the "Queen of the Adriatic", "City of Water", "City of Bridges" or "The City of Light"

Venice is not nicknamed the "City of Water" or the "City of Bridges" for nothing. Venice is actually an archipelago of 118 islands separated by about 150 canals with the islands connected by about 400 bridges. A typical canal is shown in the photo on the left which is a photo taken from Yahoo Travel: Grand Canal pictures. Transportation is on water or on foot. Venice is known not only for its canals, but also for its very unique gondolas, some of which you can see in the photo. The gondola is now mostly used by tourists, or for weddings, funerals, or other ceremonies whereas transportation for most Venetians are by motorised waterbuses or vaporetti or private boats.

There are lots of interesting places to visit in Venice among which are St Mark's Square, Campo San Polo, Doge's Palace, Palazzo Grassi, Ca' d'Oro, Ca' Rezzonico, Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo, Fondaco dei Turchi, Palazzo Labia,Scuola Grande di San Marco, Palazzo Malipiero, Basilica di San Marco, Piazza San Marco, Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute, The Arsenal, La Fenice opera house, La Torre dell'Orologio (St Mark's Clock), Rialto Bridge, The Bridge of Sighs, Accademia Bridge, Scalzi Bridge and Piazzale Roma Footbridge.

Of all these, Piazza San Marco or St Mark's Square have a special place in my memory, for I still remember myself taking a photo of my late wife stretching out her hand for the pigeons to perch on. Unfortunately, that was 30 over years ago and I don't know if I can find the photo.

For our visit then, again we were forced to waste time searching for suitable accommodation on arrival. How I wish that there was such a thing as Internet and online hotel booking sites like Venice hotels. We would have not wasted time searching for accommodation but using our short visit for sight seeing, for there is so much to see and so little time.