I’m fascinated by window washers. Every time I see them setting up at building downtown, I just want to stop and watch them work. I think it’s the combination of being gusty enough to trust your life to a rather thin piece of rope while also having a unique “office” view. The suction cups they use also remind me of 1960s Batman. So imagine how I feel about Phil’s photo above. Take one part unique perspective, add the mystique of window washers, and then throw in the blown out highlights of the sky; you get one great shot.
Window cleaner steals literary greats' letters from Booker judge: A treasure trove of gossip-laden letters written by some of the greatest literary figures of the past 100 years were stolen from a Man Booker Prize judge by his window cleaner. Tyrone Somers, 41, of Clapham, South London, worked for Dr Rick Gekoski, a member of the judging panel for the 2005 Man Booker Prize and this year's Man Booker International Prize. Yesterday he was jailed for 30 months after pleading guilty to theft. The stolen documents included private correspondences by Kingsley Amis, TS Eliot, Cecil Beaton, Ted Hughes, Henry Moore, Gore Vidal and Virginia Woolf. Dr Gekoski, a US-born academic and rare bookseller, had given Mr Somers the keys to his north-west London home. The handyman told police he entered the house on 23 July this year at around 5am intending to carry out maintenance work. However, once inside, he stole a binder full of historic papers, a laptop and £100 in cash. Dr Gekoski admitted he was initially devastated by the theft, but he has since forgiven his former employee because after a few weeks Somers had a change of heart and returned the manuscripts to the police. "He thought better of what he'd done," said Dr Gekoski. "I was very sorry to lose all of them and of course I was relieved to have them back."
The future is bright: New smart windows lighten instantly when it's cold - to save on heating bills. A new 'smart' window system will turn dark when the sun comes out - and then instantly become crystal clear when it's colder, so that you can save on heating bills by soaking up heat from the sun. The new material - unveiled by scientists - allows a cheap and automatic system to keep houses cool in summer, and warm in winter.
Other 'dimmer' glasses rely on manual control using expensive equipment such as Crestron home-automation panels. Ho Sun Lim, Jeong Ho Cho, Jooyong Kim and Chang Hwan Lee, writing in the journal ACS Nano, point out there is a huge appetite for 'smart' glass for skylights, windows - and even in car windows. Hitachi recently unveiled SPD 'smart glass' which will be used in homes - and future models of Mercedes-Benz. The company can manufacture 4.3 million square feet of SPD-Smart film per year from its new production facility.
The researchers, however, claim their 'smart glass' is faster - and will save users more money than any rival. Previous 'smart windows' tended to be costly, and deteriorate rapidly - as well as using various toxic products in their production. The researchers set out to develop a smart window that overcomes these drawbacks. They discovered that using a polymer, a layer of ions, and a solvent such as methanol was an inexpensive and less harsh way to make a stable, robust smart window.
It has the added advantage of being extremely tunable — quickly and easily switching from 100% opaque to almost completely clear in seconds. 'To our knowledge, such extreme optical switching behavior is unprecedented among established smart windows,' the authors state. 'This type of light control system may provide a new option for saving on heating, cooling and lighting costs through managing the light transmitted into the interior of a house.'
Take gardeners and window cleaners, as an example: they love to bunch their work together and not drag everything between jobs. Each week they may have a day where they finish earlier and if they know you’re only a couple of streets away and in need of their help, why would they not help for a special deal? What if the pilot light has just gone out on your boiler? Post it on BuzNow and there could be a plumber who will be happy to pop by on their way home. Maybe you have some shelves that need putting up? There could be just the person you need within metres! This is what Buzwon is about, making sure everyone is able to get what they want in a convenient way.
Buzwon is making life for consumers and suppliers easier.
Netherlands based Boels Verhuur has ordered 310 Niftylift aerial lifts, following last year’s order for 100 units, the delivery of which has recently been completed. The new lifts, which have been ordered through Niftylift’s Dutch distributor Eurosupply, include both trailer lifts and self-propelled Height Rider models. “The HR12 self-propelled articulated boom lift along with the 120 T and 170 trailer mounted platforms are not only popular with maintenance companies, municipalities, painters and window cleaners, but also with private people who are looking for a safe working place at height. The 21 metre 210 trailer lift is also a nice extension to our current rental fleet.”
Flint pensioner stabbed himself to death: A Flint pensioner stabbed himself to death through the heart, an inquest heard. Retired window cleaner Terrence Jones was found dead in his cottage on April 4, but his brother-in-law Richard Johnson said he had given no indication he intended to take his own life. Mr Johnson, of Chester Road, Flint, told the hearing in Prestatyn yesterday (Monday) that Mr Jones had had his 73rd birthday just a couple of weeks earlier. His brother had been 73 when he died, which had upset him greatly. Mr Johnson told John Gittins, the acting coroner for North East Wales, that his brother-in-law first had a breakdown when his father died and then again after his brother’s death in 2001. “I knew he was depressed for a long time, but he was a very private person and would not open up,” he said. Consultant pathologist Dr Mark Atkinson said there was only a single stab wound under the ribs which had punctured his heart. He said Mr Jones would have died within minutes. Recording a verdict of suicide, Mr Gittins said the fact that he had left a note and money for his sister made it clear Mr Jones had intended to take his own life. Mr Gittins added: “The reality is that he had been suffering from a mental illness for a long period of time and maybe felt, wrongly, that he didn’t have a lot to live for.”
Thug jailed for 10 years after nearly killing a window cleaner with a tin of custard: A violent thug has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after hitting a man over the head with a tin of custard and almost killing him. Sam Harrison, 23, confronted Stuart Newton at his home after mistakenly thinking he had assaulted his girlfriend and he hit the father-of-two around the head with an "improvised cosh" – a large tin of custard in a sock. He appeared at Cambridge Crown Court for sentencing after a jury had found him guilty of grievous bodily harm with intent after a trial at Huntingdon Crown Court in June.
Stuart Newton, 35, was left feeling "sick" when he was told Sam Harrison was sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacking him with a tin of custard in a sock. He said: "It’s surreal. These things you read about, you don’t expect to live it. You see it in films and stuff. "The attack has left me with a nine-inch scar round the back of my head. "It has really hit home how bad it was as it was a really serious sentence. "I realise how lucky I am and it could have been a lot worse." He said although he did not have any expectations of the sentence Harrison might get, he is satisfied that 10 years is long enough. The window cleaner said it was lucky that his flat mate was there at the time of the attack to get Harrison off him after he had collapsed from the force of the blow.
It’s great that the maintenance man keeps the library so clean and everything. But then the poor guy almost gets hit by a car one day because he’s doing his job cleaning the windows. Is it really necessary to have a maintenance man cleaning the road in front of the library on Meadow Drive? Does he have the cones, safety vest and safety equipment so that people can see him? What happens if he gets hit? Is it really that important to have a parking lot that clean?
Tonya Callebaut a former stockbroker had a burst of kiwi ingenuity during her first renovation experience in New Zealand. Tonya realised chances were that people all over the country were probably having similar issues in terms of finding tradesmen to quote. The number of tradesmen using Logajob is growing daily. Every type of job imaginable is covered – from building a garden shed to pest control, air-conditioning to window cleaning. According to Tonya “Logajob will take the work out of your search and the search out of your work”.
Portland Opera’s gala with giant screen: Big Night involves a lot of new stuff like figuring out how to hang a 40 foot screen from the front of Keller Auditorium. That has been an engineering challenge. What did you decide to do? Hassell: My technical director Scot Burkhardt has been working on this for months, and he decided to call some window-washing companies. They have parapet clamps that they use on the tops of buildings. So we’ve met with them and representatives from the PCPA and a structural engineer who knows the building. Everyone now knows how to do this.
Lost in 1972 snowball fight, Allderdice ring returns to grad: For nearly 40 years, William Delaney never knew what happened to his class ring from Allderdice High School. In 1972, he lost it in a yard on Tilbury Street during a snowball fight with some friends. He'd had it less than a week. He finally got it back two weeks ago, thanks to a family who decided to do the right thing. Mike Yoffee, 47, and his 15-year-old son, Max Zack, who goes to Allderdice, showed up at Mr. Delaney's doorstep on Hastings Street in Point Breeze, asked if he'd gone to Allderdice and presented him with the ring. "He said, 'Oh, my God, I lost that ring 40 years ago. I drive by there all the time and wonder what happened to it,' " recalled Mr. Yoffee, who lives a few blocks away on Beechwood Boulevard. "I couldn't believe it," said Mr. Delaney, 57, who lives in the same house he did in 1972 and works as a window cleaner. "They put a lot of effort into this."
The Yoffees fired up Google and found Delaney Window Cleaning on nearby Hastings Street. Mr. Yoffee called for a few weeks but didn't get a response, so on Sept. 4 he and his son were out driving around. Max Zack had the ring in his pocket, so they decided to drop in at 511 Hastings.
Mr. Delaney said he and some friends were fooling around in the snow that day when he reached into the hedges on Tilbury, made a snowball and flung it. The ring, which was a little too big, slipped off his finger at some point. "I looked for it for months until school let out in the spring," he said. He's gratified that someone would take the time to track him down. "I'm surprised," he said. "They could have sold it."
In pole position to take the initiative: Another potential risk to PFI is value for money. These types of contract are coming under growing scrutiny as austerity tops the agenda for many governments. One aspect of efficiency investigated in the review was window cleaning. Questions were asked whether windows need cleaning every week, or if could they be cleaned less frequently to save money.
Divided Palm Beach County Commission finds compromise increasingly tough on budget cuts - As the Palm Beach County budget heads toward resolution, a look at some of the topics: (Clockwise, from top left) The Santaluces and Aquacrest county pools ($566,000) have been spared; window washing at county buildings has been cut to 'as needed’ basis ($486,000); aerial spraying for mosquitos has been cut by 9 percent ($43,000); and the sheriff's budget has been spared so far ($464 million).
Crawley's retained firefighters saving lives in their spare time: They may spend their days cleaning windows or working in an office, but many residents also have jobs as part-time life savers. An opportunity has risen for more locals to add this skill to their CV – as a retained firefighter based in Crawley. Retained firefighters combine their day jobs and duties with being "on call" as a firefighter, ready to respond to emergencies when they are alerted. Crawley Fire Station on Ifield Avenue is a busy station crewed by full-time and retained firefighters. The crews are called out to respond to a wide range of emergencies including fires, floods, car crashes and animal rescues. There are currently 12 active retained firefighters in Crawley who have a wide range of full-time jobs including paramedics, a window cleaner and a fleet manager at British Airways. The station is looking for at least two or three new retained firefighters to join immediately and more are needed to help in the near future.
Fraudster confesses: A Callous Leigh man is awaiting sentence after he admitted fraud involving a cheque stolen from a 90-year-old woman. Window cleaner Stephen Anthony Langley pleaded guilty to false representation involving a £5,650 cheque in the name of his Beech Hill victim on October 17. However, the 25-year-old, of Sandringham Drive, Leigh, denied stealing the cheque and the hearing was told that that charge is to be dropped. The cheque was made out in the name of pensioner Elizabeth Winstanley. Langley was further remanded on bail by a Liverpool Crown Court judge to await sentence on Monday October 17.
Author Kevin Brockmeier allows his imagination to wander. He examines and develops fleeting ideas to fill the pages of a novel or a chapter in a short story collection. One character in a short story works as a window washer and writes messages on the windows he cleans. Another is a mute who gives people singing parakeets. "Every story is different, of course," Brockmeier said in an email interview. In the case of the window washer and the mute, "they each began with an image that seemed to arrive with a shiver of meaning and that I believed carried some symbolic and emotional freight: a man whose name was spelled across his chest in light and a speechless man whose birds sang the story of his life."
A Dudley based cleaning company is celebrating its 30th anniversary by holding an auction to raise money towards a Peruvian aid mission. The fundraising event, at ServiceMaster in Thornleigh Trading Estate, will include boxing gloves signed by legends Joe Frazier and Joe Calzaghe, Cliff Richard tickets, a signed golf flag by Sir Nick Faldo, a house clean and a window clean.
