Window Cleaners Headline Grabbers

Welcome to Blobby-land! Window cleaner paints his house pink with yellow spots to cheer up his town. A fed-up window cleaner has painted his terraced house pink with yellow spots to chase away the November gloom. Vince Holden, 47, is hoping his elaborate new paint job will put a smile on the faces of everyone in the small town of Penrith, Cumbria. He plans to give the larger spots smiley faces based on the text message smileys on mobile phones.
He said: 'I didnt want it to look like Mr Blobby, I just wanted to put a smile on people's faces. 'There are 14,700 people that live in Penrith. If they all have a smile on their face and give a pound to charity every time they see my house it would be fantastic. 'I got the idea from a house I saw with a chimney stack painted like a Liquorice Allsort.' Mr Holden says the new paint job is not designed specifically to raise money for charity, but he has now put a poster in his front window asking anyone who enjoys his artwork to give money to a charity of their choice.
'Everybody I know has given it a fairly good reception,' he added. Eden District Council leader Keith Phillips said: 'The property in question is not a listed building so the resident is not breaking any planning guidelines. 'I hear that the motivation behind it is to cheer up the people of Penrith in these gloomy economic times. I hope it has the desired effect.'

You can spot this Penrith house a smile away: Why has a window cleaner from Penrith given his house an elaborate new paint job? Vince Holden, of Benson Row, added yellow dots to his pink house this week and has put a sign in his window asking for money. A window cleaner from Penrith is hoping to ‘send a smiley’ to everybody in town after giving his house an elaborate new paint job. Vince Holden has painted his house in Benson Row pink with yellow spots, and plans to give the larger spots smiley faces based on the text message ‘smileys’ on mobile phones. The 47-year-old said: “I didn’t want it to look like Mr Blobby, I just wanted to put a smile on folk’s faces.
“There are 14,700 people living in Penrith. If they all have a smile on their face and give a pound to charity every time they see my house it would be fantastic. “It’s very artistic, you can’t knock it for that. I got the idea from a house in Barrow with a chimney stack painted like a Liquorice Allsort.” The new paint job is not specifically designed to raise money for charity, but Mr Holden, who regularly donates money to Cancer Research, has put up a poster in his window asking that anyone who enjoys his artwork gives some money to a charity of their choice. So far the response from friends, neighbours and passers-by has been largely positive. Mr Holden, who moved to Penrith seven years ago having grown up in Blackpool, said: “Everyone I know has given it a fairly good reception.”
Eden District Council leader Keith Phillips said: “The property in question is not a listed building so the resident is not breaking any planning guidelines. I hear that the motivation behind the painting is to cheer up the residents of Penrith in these gloomy times, so I hope it has the desired effect and may attract some more visitors to the town for a look during the run-up to Christmas.” After a painter gave the house its first pink coat, Mr Holden painted on the yellow spots himself.

What if you were asked to be on TV tomorrow? What would you do? Let’s say that a reporter from your local television news station called you up tomorrow morning, around 10:30am, to tell you that they were doing a special segment for the 6 o’clock news on Professional Eavestrough Cleaning, and wondered if you might be available for an interview? And what if they also said that they were interested in filming you doing the work, and also wanted to run some common concerns by you to see what you had to say? Would it be worth it? Would you do it?
One of my local competitors received a phone call just like that, this morning, Wednesday, November 11, 2009. He told them he was too busy. Interesting. His company is listed number one in Google for the search phrase “toronto eavestrough cleaning”. My company is listed second, so when he said “no”, the reporter hung up the phone, and dialed my number next.
The result is below. I recorded tonight’s 6 o’clock news report on my iphone, so it’s not perfect, but you get the idea. Incidentally, the reporter, his assistant, and the cameraman all asked for my card after the filming and interview were completed, and said they would call in the Spring. The moral of the story: Exploit, don’t squander valuable marketing opportunities. Repeat that to yourself so you don’t forget. You never know, a reporter might be phoning you up tomorrow morning.

Why is Friday the 13th unlucky? Friday the 13th has traditionally been when the superstitious take extra care and double check everything they do. Now experts at the Glasgow Science Centre are looking into the global phenomenon to determine if there is any science behind the superstitions. GSC said it is a mix of superstitions - Friday being the unluckiest day of the week and the number 13. Mr Laing said another widely held superstition is that walking under a ladder is unlucky.
It is said to stem from the Christian belief the triangle was the symbol of the Holy Trinity and therefore, by walking through the triangle - made by the ladder, wall and ground - you were being disrespectful to God. However, Mr Laing said there is a more practical explanation for it being unlucky to walk through ladders: "Imagine how unlucky you would be to walk under a ladder and the window cleaner's bucket tips over you? Maybe not unlucky but being a bit silly and definitely soggy."