Window cleaner having a high old time (New Zealand): Abseiling off a giant glass building may not be everyone's idea of a good time, but it is all in a day's work for Dunedin window cleaner Nick Beadle. Mr Beadle, a high-rise window cleaner, has spent many hours over the past six weeks dangling off the side of his biggest job yet - the 13-storey Otago House building on the corner of Moray Pl and Princes St in Dunedin. The qualified abseiling window cleaner said this was the first time he had cleaned the black glass building as, before the recent addition of three extra storeys, a crane was used to clean its windows. It is a new job for his company, See Through Windows, and a big one.
He started the job at the start of January, but the inclement weather and high winds that month made it difficult to carry out the work. Mr Beadle spoke to the Otago Daily Times via his hands-free telephone from the eighth floor of the building. For the job, he wears a full body harness and sits in a bosun's chair (a plank) suspended from a guide rope, with his bucket full of water with dishwashing liquid in it - "It doesn't matter what's in your bucket, it's the squeegee that does all work." - suspended beside him on the safety rope.
It took him about one and a-half hours to clean a block, four windows across, from the top storey to the ground, he said. "I'm quite the attraction at the moment. There's been quite a few people looking up, and quite a few taking photos." He took up abseiling after he started working for the window-cleaning company about 11 years ago. Seven years ago, he took over the company, which cleans the windows of many of Dunedin's taller buildings, including Forsyth Barr House and Frances Hodgkins Retirement Village.
Infestation of starlings makes Nantwich residents’ lives a misery: Thousands of starlings are ruffling feathers by showering Nantwich with muck. Droppings from the huge flock are splattering everything in sight – including buildings, pavements, cars and people. The problem has come home to roost with people now avoiding ‘bomb alley’ around dusk.
Townsfolk want an end to the starling plague and the cost and effort of cleaning up the mess. Ros Reid, who lives in The Blankney off Water Lode, said: “We can’t walk around to the shops when they gather overhead – the Morrisons area is particularly bad. You need an umbrella. Everything gets showered in muck. “My conservatory’s plastered and so’s my car. It’s a health hazard and it stinks. It’s beyond a joke.” A Spring Gardens resident added: “It’s like running a gauntlet. You daren’t look up. It’s a real nuisance.”
But a Cheshire East Council spokesman said their hands were tied when controlling bird numbers. He said: “While the starling swarms look impressive, we appreciate the mess they leave behind is unsightly and is a disruption to residents. “But the starlings are protected and it’s illegal to intentionally kill injure or disturb them. We’ve no plans to use any methods to control numbers.” Businesses are suffering from the starling plague too.
Window cleaner Roger Akam says they’re making his life a misery. He said: “It’s twice as hard to get the job done. It’s not creating more work, it’s just making the job harder.”
The problem is even putting people off moving to the area. An estate agent said she’d lost a client because of the starlings. She said: “A guy was buying a house near Brine Leas school area but he’s been put off by the birds. It can’t be a one-off. Others must be put off too.”
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