An Equipment Failure & New Window Cleaning Record?

George Lynn is going for a Guinness world record for cleaning windows.

Window record open: Most 63-year-olds with rheumatoid arthritis would be more than happy to put their feet up and relax in their retirement days. George Lynn, however, is not your average 63-year-old.

The Mirrabooka pensioner has now travelled across Australia four times in an effort to establish a Guinness world record for the most windows washed in a year. The window-washing bug first bit him in 1988, when he stopped over in Abu Dhabi with no local currency. “I was in the airport with no local currency, and I found a café owner that spoke English, and I asked him if he could make me a cup of tea if I washed his windows,” he said. “He told me he’d make me a cup of tea and also give me five dollars – and I’ve been washing windows ever since.”

Despite his severe arthritis, George is aiming to wash one million windows between Australia Day 2012 and Australia Day 2013. “I’ve already done 4000 windows so far, so I am going to have a decent crack at it,” he said. “In four attempts I’ve not managed to get upwards of one million – but I’m hoping my luck will change this year. “I’ve got all the documentation I need, I just need to get the windows done.”

George charges $2 per window, with one third going to the RFDS, one third going to the Cancer Council and one third to himself. “I can assure you I’m not making a quid out of it. It’s just enough to support my pension and keep me washing windows.”

Crane malfunctioned atop San Francisco high rise: A crane accident happened in the Financial District Sunday around 2:30 p.m. A crane came loose dangled off a high rise at the corner of California and Kearny streets. About five tons of mechanical equipment inside a container dangled off the side of the Bank of America building, near the top, right over Kearney Street. Workers told ABC7 they were installing new window washing gear on the roof of the Bank of America building and have been doing it for the past three days, but they said the load that got stuck was the heaviest load they've lifted so far. The weight proved to be too much for the crane. The container weighs 11,000 pounds and it was dangling over 500 feet in the air. "It contains two spools of wire weighing about 11,000 pounds and the winch snapped, so now the only way they can get it up there is they're going to have to hand crank it. It's about 100 feet they have to bring it up. It's going to take about 3-3.5 hours. There's no danger right now. We've got everything locked down, we've got traffic and pedestrians out of the area. We've got officers at all the corners to make sure that nobody gets in there," said San Francisco Police Sgt. Joe Fisher. There were two men cranking the container up and around 6 p.m. they were moving it at a rate of 20 feet in an hour. This caused traffic jams all over the area and Chinatown.