Window Cleaning News

Bank of Thailand must reconsider policy rate hike regime - Pictured above, window washers work on a high-rise building in Bangkok. They are among hundreds of thousands of workers waiting to hear the fate of the government’s plan to raise the minimum wage, which critics say could lead to a rise in inflation.

Homeless window cleaner living on bench in Richmond Green has been offered help finding a home. A homeless window cleaner who won a place in the hearts of Richmond residents has been offered a helping hand to find a home. Richard Dipple, 63, has been living on a park bench in Richmond Green for several weeks after becoming homeless when the owner of his Richmond Hill home died. At the request of concerned neighbours, who live alongside the Green, the Richmond and Twickenham Times highlighted Mr Dipple’s plight. Richmond Council and homelessness charity Spear have both pledged to help him find emergency housing and a permanent home. Councillor Nicola Urquhart, Richmond’s cabinet member for adult services and housing, said: “We are aware of Mr Dipple’s situation. We were contacted by a concerned member of the public three weeks ago and both the council and Spear tried to find him to offer help, but without success. “If Mr Dipple would like to come in to the Civic Centre in Twickenham, I’m sure we would be able to help him. “His age means he’s a high priority case and, while he would need to be assessed in the same way as other homeless people, we would provide emergency housing for him in the short term while that was being done.” Mr Dipple has not yet decided if he feels ready to officially register as homeless but is considering the council’s offer of help. Previous blog here.

A talented non-league footballer who played for both Bamber Bridge and Chorley killed himself at his home, an inquest heard. But at the hearing into Lee Pryers’ death, his father, John and friends said there was no obvious reason why he would take his own life. The inquest heard 31-year-old Mr Pryers, who lived alone in Smethurst Lane, Deane, near Bolton, had trials for Bolton Wanderers and was taken on as an apprentice playing for the reserve and youth teams. The full-back was later released and continued his playing career with various clubs including Bury, Leigh RMI, Chorley, Fleetwood Town and Bamber Bridge. When he finished playing football, Mr Pryers worked as a window cleaner and enjoyed keeping fit. The inquest was told although he did not indicate to family or friends he had a problem, he sent a text to ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Jackson the day before he was found dead saying he was depressed and did not know what to do.

Falls can be deadly for elderly: The death rate from falls for senior citizens has risen sharply in the past decade. Two in 10 older adults who fall are likely to die, and four in 10 will never recover to be fully independent again. But there are ways to protect your loved ones. When Nancy Reagan fell last month, the arm that broke her fall may have saved her life. She was lucky. So was Mary Ann Palermo. "I was climbing up the ladder, washing a window, and I had my foot in the sink and I had these little plastic things in there and so away I went. And down I went," Palermo said. To avoid falls, here are a few tips: exercise can improve leg strength and balance; watch for medicines, such as those for blood pressure and heart ailments, that cause dizziness; update eyeglasses; add light in the home; and install grab bars to kitchens and bathrooms. "And I won't climb anymore, no," Palermo said. But Palermo can walk again, albeit with a new hip, and she's back doing things again with her granddaughter. Older adults often fear broken bones and fractures, but it's the traumatic brain injury that causes almost half of the deaths from falls.

Police appeal for information following anniversary of West Norwood murder: Police have issued a fresh appeal for information following the murder of a man in West Norwood. Ricardo Cunha, a Portuguese national who worked as a window cleaner, was shot dead shortly after 11pm on Saturday, September 11, 2010, at his flat in Pondfield House in Elder Road. On the night he was killed, Mr Cunha and his girlfriend were watching television in their bedroom when they were disturbed by noises outside. Mr Cunha went to investigate by looking out of the living room window and was shot. His family has been left devastated by his death. Police have recovered an unusual gun which they believe was the murder weapon. The gun, a British made Webley mark six revolver, is thought to have been produced in 1924 and is in good condition. Police think the gun may have been kept by someone as a keepsake for the war and it may have been taken in a burglary. "Ricardo was a young man with no criminal past or connections. Despite taking statements from over 200 people who knew Ricardo or who lived near where he was killed the motive for his murder remains unknown." A reward of up to £20,000 is available to anyone who can help bring Mr Cunha’s killers to justice. Previous blog here.

CORVALLIS, Ore. Caught on tape. A man who vandalized several businesses windows in Corvallis wasn't too sneaky about it.  He's seen in clear view writing on a glass window of a local business. He etched in what appears to say "Trunk" or "Trunked" in several windows at at least 20 different businesses in downtown Corvallis.  And police say they need your help to find the suspect. On Saturday morning, business owners along 1st and 2nd Streets were surprised to come into work finding those words etched deep into the window glass. And the guy responsible?  You can clearly see him on surveillance footage provided by a local chiropractor. Police are hoping the community will recognize him from the video.  You can see he has a full sleeve tattoo on his right arm and has short, blonde-ish hair. And now all those businesses affected, some that rely heavily on window shopping, will spend several weeks looking at those words. "The window displays sell and they look terrible now, you can't see in and you see all these scratches," said Doriel Roett, Mona Lisa's Custom Framing owner. "It's annoying, I mean we try and keep our windows clean and attractive and now it's got these huge words all over it," said Cathy Holdorf, Sibling Revelry co-owner. And it's going to cost the shop owners.  Police estimate the damage is anywhere from $20,000-$50,000. Corvallis police say they do have a few leads, but have not identified anyone as a suspect yet.

Clear responsibility on work-site safety: Causing an accident that costs a life would be an enormous burden for anyone. For one Indian expatriate, however, that burden became more than just guilt or personal responsibility - it became an extended jail sentence because he did not have enough money. As The National reported yesterday, Sakeer Hussain Kutty, who was sentenced to three months in prison for accidentally causing the death of a colleague in June 2008, ended up serving three years because he could not pay the blood money to the victim's family. Mr Kutty's case shows not only a case of personal tragedy, but an unnecessary waste of resources: he lost three years of his life, the courts dealt with repeated hearings in the case and the state paid for his incarceration. There has to be a better way.

Clear legislation on workplace safety, company responsibility and liability, and insurance and compensation claims could save time and expense, not to mention offer better protections for employees. At present, companies are not legally required to obtain liability insurance. In cases where accidents happen at the workplace, there is often an ambiguity about who should be held responsible. Window cleaners without harnesses; construction workers without hard hats; welders without masks: we have all seen the hazards just by walking by a work site. Regulations for construction site safety in particular have improved in recent years but accidents will always happen. The question is, what then?

Now, Marines are cleaning windows: For almost two decades, Marines and sailors with 7th Communication Battalion have volunteered their time and energy at Hikarigaoka Nursing Home in Kin-Cho. “Most of the work the Marines do is outside like window cleaning and yard work, but the Marines have a great relationship with us,” said Shimabukuro. “During our annual Hikarigaoka Nursing Home festival, the Marines bring food and we put on a show.”

More falling glass: Yesterday Westfield Stratford City – the largest shopping centre in Europe – finally opened its doors. And it was a smashing start. A glass roof panel fell 30ft to the floor, shattering noisily on impact, just yards from where London Mayor Boris Johnson was giving a radio interview. The only casualty was the mayor’s London pride, but if brushing aside bad news was an Olympic sport, Bojo would be a gold medal prospect and he rubbished any suggestion that the centre’s construction had been rushed. “They are doing a brilliant job,” he insisted. “Whatever happened over there will be cleared up as soon as possible.”

How to best spend a little extra cash - Dear Action Line: I found a $20 bill blowing down the street the other day. I looked upwind, and seeing no one frantically approaching, put it in my pocket. How do I best spend this great windfall? - E.S., Tulsa. Increase clarity: BankRate.com says clean windows in your home will give you a much needed emotional uplift, so for $20 buy the window-washing garden hose attachment that holds window cleaner and turns the hose into a window-washing machine.

An unemployed former bank worker hanged himself in an "execution role play" after paying two escort girls to humiliate him in the woods, an inquest heard. Coroner Roger Hatch recorded an open verdict at Gravesend Coroner's Court. He ruled that there was "no evidence" to suggest the former assistant vice president with the City-based bank had intended to take his own life after being told it may have been just a "miscalculated" role play. Mr Birch had been made redundant in 2009 and was having trouble finding new work. On July 30, he asked escort boss Louise Howard to arrange the "execution". Mr Hatch asked her: "He told you not to worry, that he would have a safety harness on like the ones that window cleaners use.

Oh, Come On, Men Aren't Finished. Women are joining men as partners in running the world, not replacing them. Is the technology industry finished? Is engineering finished? Is the military finished? I haven't even mentioned that men hold the lion's share of dangerous, dirty, and necessary jobs that few women seem to want. Men tend to be the truck drivers, builders, oil-rig workers, roofers, loggers, coal miners, taxi drivers, and window washers. Are those jobs passé?

An alcoholic who terrified his wife and stepson by setting fire to their bed as they slept has been jailed. Philip Wilkinson (37), of Richardson Way, Whittlesey, crept into the room where his wife Rebecca and her 11-year-old son were sleeping, after he had downed a three-litre bottle of cider. Yesterday he appeared at an emotional hearing at Peterborough Crown Court, where he was locked up for four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to arson, being reckless as to whether life was endangered at a previous hearing. The former self-employed window cleaner – who had been jailed for six years in 2002 for armed robbery – sobbed as Cheryl Williams, prosecuting, told the court how Mrs Wilkinson had been terrified when she woke up to find her mattress and sheets on fire at their Richardson Way home. While both victims escaped serious injury, Judge Sean Enright said Wilkinson’s aim had been to “terrify” the pair.

Scotland’s latest unemployment figures are depressing enough at 7.5 per cent or 204,000. But they are a slight improvement on the last set of figures and they are less depressing than the numbers for the UK as a whole, 7.9 per cent or 2.5 million. It is true that the private sector provides more than half of all employment in Scotland and that the number of small or medium enterprises is growing, slightly. But they only account for a little over one third of the economy (37 per cent of turnover), and most of them are one-man businesses in the service sector: joiners, plumbers, window cleaners, taxi drivers etc. The number of large private businesses (over 250 employees) has in fact gone down in the last year to just 2,260. And all these valiant enterprises, large and small, are being hit by the cuts in the public sector.

MURRIETA: Homeowner watches deer crash through window - A Murrieta homeowner was looking out her dining room window Thursday when a panicked three-point buck came crashing through the glass right at her. "I screamed like a girl," Denise Goglanian said. The deer, which was later shot and killed by authorities, had been reported to police late Thursday morning walking in the street near Lincoln Avenue and California Oaks Road. They found it in Goglanian's backyard on Avenida Arconte, where it had wandered through an open gate. Goglanian, who lives in Temecula, said she had been preparing it for a renter to move in. Window washers had been there that morning and when Goglanian arrived to lock up, police were there. They went inside and saw the buck out the back window, pacing and panting.

The cost of taking advice is becoming clear: Where can you turn for financial advice? The bloke in the pub? Your window cleaner? Your bank? You may think you'll get more honest help from the first two these days, but for decent advice you need to go to a professional. The financial advice industry has been tarnished by a series of scandals, ranging from insurance mis-selling through to blatant theft of clients' funds in isolated cases. Yet there are still tens of thousands of advisers out there willing to take cash from you in return for their help.

Ryan Moor launched Thursday evening’s Clark County PubTalk by describing his journey from window washer and punk rock musician to founder of a silk-screen equipment business that employs 70 and earns $25 million in annual revenue. Moor, with spiked hair and barely in his 30s, described how his father’s sales of Amway products stirred a childhood interest in entrepreneurship. “It gave me the ability to learn how to dream,” Moor said. He started small, earning money trapping moles, pressure washing houses, and cleaning windows before joining a punk rock band in high school. Moor began printing silk screens for shirts in his mother’s kitchen for his band, eventually making shirts for other bands. The idea of a business was born, with Ryonet selling online and using YouTube as a major form of product marketing.

‘Love Boat,’ ‘Happy Days’ theme writer helped write the soundtrack of our lives: You may not know the face, or even the name, but you assuredly know the music. Charles Fox wrote the theme songs for Happy Days, for The Love Boat, for Wide World of Sports. He’s written several pop standards, including Killing Me Softly With His Song. Fox brings passion to every topic that comes up, but his special passion is Nadia Boulanger, who 52 years ago gave free lessons to a window washer’s son from the Bronx.

As a Red Army conscript when the Soviet Union was showing signs of ill health, like many artistic types, he could sense the zeitgeist. “Change was in the air, one could feel this,” he says. This change spurred Jalakas from Estonia to Finland on a tourist visa from where he illegally didn’t return. He found work as a window washer, but fate was conspiring for a different life path than manual labor in Helsinki. Jalakas made his way to Denmark where he became involved in theater and to Berlin as the Wall came down, “a truly amazing time.” Back permanently in Estonia by 1990 and with some formal training behind him at Tallinn’s Pedagogical Institute studying theater production, he determined to do something utterly novel: start an independent theater.

WALLINGFORD - There's a new shop of oddities in town - and it's far from pedestrian and decidedly not for the faint of heart. The place is Shadowland, a small, red-walled store of horror, art and spiritual ephemera at 438 North Colony St. that is a labor of love for Eric Morton, a local musician and lifetime collector of rare and unique items. Eric Tangey, 40, a Wallingford native and owner of D&E Services, a professional window cleaning business, said he was glad to see the store open, filling a void for the arts in Wallingford. Tangey is also an airbrush artist and was drawn to the rare artwork inside. "When I saw it I went in there and said there was nothing around like it," he said. "He really is into supporting Connecticut local artists and bands, and artistry in and of itself. I really hope it does well"