Fearless folk are busy spring cleaning some of Christchurch's tallest buildings. Goleman industrial abseiler Josh Pretty shares the perks, and the quirks, of high-rise window cleaning with KATIE WYLIE (Source: Press, The; Christchurch, New Zealand).
Hi Josh. How long have you been in the world of window cleaning?
I started back in 2001. I'm into the outdoors big time and I studied over in Greymouth to be an outdoor instructor with the whole tourism thing, but the whole seasonal thing got a bit boring. I went back up to Auckland and kind of fell into it there.
You fell into it? Not literally, I hope.
Yeah, something like that.
How do our buildings compare with Auckland's monstrosities?
They're a lot smaller, of course, but it becomes part and parcel of the job. Before I came down I was a supervisor at SkyCity . . . so I used to do exercises abseiling off the Sky Tower. When you're hanging 200m up in the air, these things are just tiny in comparison.
You're a man with a head for heights.
I wouldn't say I'm fearless, but it's having a healthy respect for heights.
You seemed pretty fearless easing over the edge for our photographer. Is that the worst bit?
Yeah, I think it actually is. You get some buildings where it's a lot more precarious with obstacles in the way and it can become a bit of a nightmare.
Sweaty palms, a racing heart and all that?
No, not really. I've had a few "ooh" moments when it was a bit hairy. On ropes, you feel real comfortable.
And you get to sit down on the job. It's positively cushy!
The seat just makes the job a lot more comfortable. Hanging in a harness just by itself gets really uncomfortable, particularly for gentlemen.
Ahem. Yes. Still you don't have a bad office. Smashing view.
Definitely. I wish I'd actually started earlier taking a camera with me and taking photos of the views from the rooftops. It would make a great pictorial book.
You would see some funny things going on indoors, no doubt.
I have seen some real interesting sights. You get some people that totally freak out when you come down. Sometimes you might be going quite fast and you jump down from one ledge to another, all of a sudden the life jumps out of them. I've seen a variety of naked people and people in the act in some residential apartments. A lot of the time people inside don't even notice you're there and I guess that's part of the job, to be quite discreet.
What's the secret to a clean window? Do you give my hard work a second life and use newspaper?
We just use basically liquid soap and plenty of soapy water on the window. If it's too dry and you pull your rubber across it, you're going to get streaks.
How about fluff? How does one prevent the cloth moulting mid- wipe?
I think it just comes down to the rags that you use. We go through mountains and mountains of rags just to make sure it's all tidy.
You really wouldn't want to miss a spot in this line of work. Thanks.
Some video's from the Eastern hemisphere...
Hi Josh. How long have you been in the world of window cleaning?
I started back in 2001. I'm into the outdoors big time and I studied over in Greymouth to be an outdoor instructor with the whole tourism thing, but the whole seasonal thing got a bit boring. I went back up to Auckland and kind of fell into it there.
You fell into it? Not literally, I hope.
Yeah, something like that.
How do our buildings compare with Auckland's monstrosities?
They're a lot smaller, of course, but it becomes part and parcel of the job. Before I came down I was a supervisor at SkyCity . . . so I used to do exercises abseiling off the Sky Tower. When you're hanging 200m up in the air, these things are just tiny in comparison.
You're a man with a head for heights.
I wouldn't say I'm fearless, but it's having a healthy respect for heights.
You seemed pretty fearless easing over the edge for our photographer. Is that the worst bit?
Yeah, I think it actually is. You get some buildings where it's a lot more precarious with obstacles in the way and it can become a bit of a nightmare.
Sweaty palms, a racing heart and all that?
No, not really. I've had a few "ooh" moments when it was a bit hairy. On ropes, you feel real comfortable.
And you get to sit down on the job. It's positively cushy!
The seat just makes the job a lot more comfortable. Hanging in a harness just by itself gets really uncomfortable, particularly for gentlemen.
Ahem. Yes. Still you don't have a bad office. Smashing view.
Definitely. I wish I'd actually started earlier taking a camera with me and taking photos of the views from the rooftops. It would make a great pictorial book.
You would see some funny things going on indoors, no doubt.
I have seen some real interesting sights. You get some people that totally freak out when you come down. Sometimes you might be going quite fast and you jump down from one ledge to another, all of a sudden the life jumps out of them. I've seen a variety of naked people and people in the act in some residential apartments. A lot of the time people inside don't even notice you're there and I guess that's part of the job, to be quite discreet.
What's the secret to a clean window? Do you give my hard work a second life and use newspaper?
We just use basically liquid soap and plenty of soapy water on the window. If it's too dry and you pull your rubber across it, you're going to get streaks.
How about fluff? How does one prevent the cloth moulting mid- wipe?
I think it just comes down to the rags that you use. We go through mountains and mountains of rags just to make sure it's all tidy.
You really wouldn't want to miss a spot in this line of work. Thanks.
Some video's from the Eastern hemisphere...
and a funny...........
No comments:
Post a Comment