Saturday Window Cleaning News

Witnesses Share Stories of Terror, Heroism From Scene of the Blasts: Former race car driver Alex Asmasubrata, who lives near the Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott hotels, was jogging in the area when he heard the first explosion. “It was quite loud and I was so shocked that I immediately hit the ground,” Alex said. He saw staff members from the JW Marriott carrying the bodies of four Westerners out of the hotel. Ambulances arrived at the scene an hour later.
The hotel required all department heads and supervisors to stay behind, but instructed staff members to go home. Some had just started their shifts and had put their personal belongings such as motorcycle keys and wallets inside their lockers, but they could not retrieve these because the hotel had been blocked off by police.
Singgih, a doorman at the Ritz-Carlton, saw white smoke coming from inside the restaurant, where most of the people who were having breakfast were foreign nationals. “I went in to help the waiters and people were rushing out of the kitchen,” Singgih said. Soleman said the explosion from the Marriott was so loud that it caused shockwaves. Five minutes later, he heard the second explosion from the Ritz-Carlton. “I saw the glass from the windows at the Ritz-Carlton shatter and come crashing down,” Soleman said. “[The guests and I] were scheduled to go to Pulogadung this morning,” Soleman said.
Zainul Supriyanto, 28, a window cleaner at the JW Marriott, said he was taking a break in the basement when he heard the explosion. He immediately ran upstairs and saw three bodies amid the devastated interior of the hotel.

Replica hawk keeps seagulls in Newcastle away: Birds of a feather no longer flock together in a street once plagued by aggressive pests, thanks to the arrival of a deadly foe. And the hawk who has successfully scared away the pigeons and seagulls has done so without moving an inch … it is made of stone. The mini bird of prey was adopted by Jason Stuart and Clare Mullin to scare away determined seagulls and pigeons from the window sills of their second floor home in Phoenix House, on Queen Street, in Newcastle. Dad-of-two Jason came up with the cunning plan after seeing one on a nature programme, and bought a stone replica hawk online to try it out for himself. The 41-year-old car salesman was fed up of feathered pests dive-bombing him and fouling the windows of the home he shares with partner Clare and their two children, Joshua, 18 months, and Lucy, six months.
Clare said: “All the sea gulls lay their eggs directly above the building. Before we had double glazing we could hear them all the time. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night thinking it is the children crying, but it is always the birds. “Buying the hawk was an environmentally-friendly way of keeping the property clean and deterring the seagulls from coming near us. We don’t have a window cleaner and Jason said he used to be attacked all the time by them.”
As well as keeping the birds at bay, the stone hawk has become something of a celebrity with visitors and residents. Clare said: “We always see people glancing up wondering whether it is a real life hawk. “It is quite a novelty around here. We have heard a few people getting into their cars talking about it. We find it hilarious.” After the breeding season in April and May, each pair of seagulls can lay up to 20 eggs. They become naturally aggressive to defend their young. Newsagent owner Anoop Bedi, who works nearby, said there had been a problem with seagulls and the mess they create for many years around the Tyne Bridge. He said: “People always stop and stare at the hawk. He is definitely an attraction in the area. I think visitors to the quayside think he is real. But after five minutes they usually realise it is fake. “I know they are protected birds but the mess they make is disgusting.”

Police are called after Bradshaw window cleaner sees mass of flies in house: A pensioner lived in the same house as his dead sister for four months. The 66-year-old man went about his daily business as his sister’s corpse lay in a bed upstairs. Police were called to the semi-detached house in Danesbury Road, Bradshaw, on Thursday morning after a window cleaner noticed an infestation of flies in an upstairs bedroom. The man let the police in and they discovered the body of a woman in a badly decomposed state in bed in a room upstairs. Police think the woman died some time in March and has been in the house ever since. The man — who is the dead woman’s brother — is believed to have a mental illness and was in the care of his sister before she died. He has been spoken to by detectives. It is believed he simply could not come to terms with the death of his sister. The man is now in the care of Bolton Social Services.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “Police attended following a concern for welfare report. “Officers went into the house and found the body of a woman in her 60s in bed. Inquiries are ongoing.” A post mortem examination was due to take place last night but initial inquiries suggest there are no suspicious circumstances. Neighbours in Danesbury Road expressed shock yesterday.
One woman who spoke to the window cleaner — known only to her as Steve — said he told her he had been cleaning the windows at the house two weeks ago when he noticed the flies. On that occasion he thought nothing of it and carried on with his work. But when he went back to the house on Thursday, he told her he could not see through the bedroom window because of flies and noticed a stench coming from the house. He spoke to another resident and they raised the alarm. Another neighbour, who has been living in the street for 50 years, said the sister gave up her job some years ago to come back and look after her brother and that the house had previously belonged to their parents. “They kept themselves to themselves and were very quiet. It’s awful,” she added.

Home Office sends man 300 miles to change toilet seat: Heard the one about the handyman who was paid £500 of taxpayers' money for driving 300 miles just to change a loo seat? It would be funny... except it happens all the time. The problem is that probation service staff are banned from ordering repairs locally. Instead maintenance men routinely drive hundreds of miles because the Home Office contracts work to a firm which has regional "hubs". That's why the plumber went from Birmingham to Norwich and back to replace the loo seat. And why an electrician drove 200 miles from Newmarket to Birmingham to mend a switch at a cost of at least £250. Window cleaners are also criss-crossing the country, staying overnight in hotels.

Chicago's iconic Sears Tower now the Big Willie? Sears Tower -- the tallest building in the United States -- now go by the Big Willie? Why not, says the head of the British insurance group which was granted naming rights to the building on Thursday. "People should have fun," said Joe Plumeri, chief executive officer of Willis Group Holdings. "This is a town of neighbors, a town of ethnicities, a town of nicknames," said Plumeri, who said embarrassing monikers were a sign of affection in the New Jersey town where he grew up. "They can call it the Big Willie as far as I'm concerned," he told AFP. The official name - the Willis Tower - has not proven popular with residents of the Windy City since the name change was announced in March. An online petition protesting the change has garnered more than 36,000 signatures and a Chicago Tribune columnist bemoaned "would New York let this happen to the Empire State and Chrysler buildings?"
Willis won the naming rights after negotiating to lease several floors of the 110-story black tower which dominates the city's skyline. The naming right has been up for grabs for years after retailer Sears, Roebuck and Co. moved out in 1993. First opened in 1973, the Sears Tower held the record for the world's tallest building for 25 years until the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were built in 1998.
The new name caps off a series of significant changes. A series of glass bays that extend out from the building were added to the Skydeck -- a major tourist attraction -- offering visitors an unobstructed view of the city some 1,353 feet (412 meters) down. Dubbed the "Ledge," the bays reach out 4.3 feet (1.3 meters) from the 103th floor and are retractable so as not to interfere with the window washing equipment. The building management has also recently announced a 350 million dollar sustainability plan to increase the building's energy efficiency and build and eco-friendly luxury hotel.

Matthew Stanton hopes his window cleaning and lawn maintenance business will earn $25,000 in profit this summer. The Katimavik man used his $1,500 grant from the Summer Company program to buy a ladder, a lawn mower, uniforms and advertising for his business, Student Window Cleaning and Lawn Maintenance. Stanton, a business major who is headed into his fourth year at Trent University, said he will use this summer’s profit to pay for next year’s tuition and living expenses. Three per cent of all profits from the business will go to the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, he said, where he has volunteered his time as a fundraiser for the past three years. Stanton has some simple advice for prospective student entrepreneurs.
“Do enough research to know what you’re getting into,” he said. “Try to go through your personal lifestyle to make sure it’s what you want to do.” Running your own business is time consuming, Stanton said. “There’s lots of little details that you wouldn’t think of – such as customer service and organizing schedules,” he said. Stanton has been working a steady 50 hours-plus a week this summer, but said he loves his job. “I’m doing very well actually, it’s still extraordinarily busy,” said Stanton. “I plan to do it next summer.”
Entrepreneurs like Stanton, are developing business skills that will last them a lifetime, said Stephen Daze, executive director of entrepreneurship and innovation at OCRI. “Whether these students choose to keep their businesses going or pick it up again after finishing school, we are confident that their experience this summer will give them a solid base from which to launch their next big idea.”