Window Cleaners In The News

Spot the Wagtail squeegee! Terry Koukoulis professional window cleaner with Greg Johnson

The good oil on window cleaning (Australia): Greg Johnson is the CEO of Toowoomba Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Catch up each week with his take on what's happening in and around the Toowoomba and Darling Downs business communities.

More admissions - I simply love cleaning windows! As usual I don't listen to advice, make up my own approach on most things. I simply spray on window cleaner, agitate it in with the reverse sponge side of the squeegee, squeegee off in many less-than- satisfactory strokes, use a wet cloth to get moisture out of the corners of the window and a dry cloth to go over the entire surface. Looks good, but when the sun hits the window the tell tale trails of the squeegee show up. Nevertheless, if the sun isn't on the window it still looks pretty good. Another approach I've heard of is to use methylated spirits and newspaper, now that doesn't make sense.

So imagine my joy when I encountered professional window cleaner Terry Koukoulis as he went about his craft on the Oxygen Café windows in Ruthven Street. Here was an expert - cool, calm, confident and calculating. I realized this was my chance to finally take professional advice on this important matter and say goodbye to blotchy windows. Terry is from Wollongong and has lived here for four years and two weeks, a fairly precise response I thought. He services the CBD, Toowoomba, Crows Nest, Oakey and Gatton and has thirty clients who use either a weekly or monthly service.

He knows a thing or two about glass and plies is craft under the very clever name, "TerryFic Solar and Window Cleaning." He charges around $20 for a small shop and around $100 for a house. Always the diversifier he's gone into solar panels too and reckons they should be cleaned annually and that dirty panels can reduce solar efficiency by around 25%. Are here are his secret ingredients - add "Morning Fresh" (now there's a plug) washing up detergent to a bucket of water, agitate the sponge side of the applicator on the window surface scrubbing off the "uglies", squeegee off in one operatic action never leaving the surface, and use a dry cloth to do the corners.

Ex-Marine stops in Fayetteville as part of cross-country walk to promote veterans issues: No stranger to Fayetteville, former Marine Mac McQuown made an unusual return to the city he once called home on Saturday. McQuown, dressed head to toe in Marine Corps camouflage, walked into the city while pulling a hand cart. The veteran is walking across the nation -- to each of the 50 state capitals -- in an effort to raise funds and awareness for veterans. On Saturday, McQuown reached mile number 864 at the Airborne & Special Operations Museum and began a six-day stay in the city, which will include at least one public appearance.

McQuown, who lived in Fayetteville as recently as three years ago and once owned Top Gun Window Cleaning, was greeted by a small crowd of onlookers, mostly museum guests attracted by McQuown and his escort -- a Fayetteville fire engine. Looking like a man with unlimited energy, McQuown declined rest and instead engaged the crowd -- shaking hands, posing for pictures and talking about his cause. McQuown said he plans to walk about 15,000 miles on his trek. He's raising money for the nonprofit Project Foot, which serves homeless veterans and military families. "Our veterans were not getting the recognition they deserve," McQuown said when asked why he was making his journey. "There's more attention on celebrities and their drug problems. This is my way of politely getting in people's faces and saying, 'You have to remember.' "

So far, McQuown has visited four state capitals, including Raleigh. He's now headed to Columbia, S.C., and has been on the road for almost five months. McQuown said he expects to walk between five or six years, covering about 10 miles a day. Harvey E. Stewart Sr., president of the Cumberland County Veterans Council, was among those at the museum to greet McQuown on Saturday. "If he's going to walk 15,000 miles, believe me, I can come over here and meet him," Stewart said. "It takes a man with a big heart to do what he's doing for the veterans that passed and the veterans still fighting."

Window cleaner, Caleb Morley (centre) with training buddies L-R Stefan Northfield and James Farmer.

'Tough guy' window cleaner raising funds for disabled childrens charity: A window cleaner is taking part in a gruelling physical challenge to raise money for a charity that works with disabled children. Caleb Morley, 26, of Lions of London, is taking part in the Tough Guy competition to raise funds for Yadapa (Young and Disabled and Positively Artistic). He will crawl through barbed wire, dart through fire and splash through freezing water, along with thousands of other competitors.

Mr Morley, who lives in New Malden but trains at a small gym in Epsom, searched online for children’s disability charities in Kingston and found Yadapa, which runs after-school events and weekend activities. He said: “I’m very hot on local issues. I was just searching the net trying to find somebody in Kingston do so something with disabled children. “I love football and rugby and it breaks my heart when people are unable to do something. “I’m excited. There’s no question of not completing the race. I’ve got to do it.”

The charity has been looking for a home, with space and a disabled loo, since the council closed the Crescent and Causeway centres in New Malden last September. The Nettle Warrior Tough Guy competition takes place on July 15 in Wolverhampton. To support Caleb go here.

Toledo Fire Department Lt. Doug Palicki hangs upside down about 40 feet in the air before landing with both feet firmly on the ground.

Firefighters turn aerialists to keep sharp in saving lives: Toledo fire Lt. Doug Palicki flipped upside down, hanging from a sturdy orange rope, about 40 feet above the ground. He slid down the rope before righting himself and landing with both feet firmly on the floor of Huntington Center. "Basic techniques," he said as he stood. The lieutenant was one of 12 firefighters from the Toledo Fire and Rescue Department who spent several hours Monday morning doing technical rope and high-angle training -- rappelling from rafters nearly 100 feet from the ground.

The members of the department's regional Technical Rope Rescue Team, from Stations 18 and 5, were out of service during the training, which allowed them to focus on technique instead of having to break for fire or medical runs, said fire Lt. Matthew Hertzfeld. The team does formal trainings about four times a year, Lieutenant Hertzfeld said, but does in-station training -- such as practicing knot tying -- every month. Although it's been about three years since the team was dispatched -- they responded to a fatal crash at an embankment off Brim Drive in North Toledo -- the team can be used in situations such as rescuing window washers or pulling a crash victim over an embankment.

James McGraw, right,owner of Fish Window Cleaning Service and his son Todd cleaned the windows at Anna's Linens in Harbison Tuesday morning.

Benedict center nurtures minority firms: When 65-year-old James McGraw lost his job at the Winnsboro Mack Truck plant nearly 10 years ago, he knew he still needed to work. So he turned to Benedict College Business Development Center — then just a startup itself — to help him start his own business. And two months ago, after years of renting low-cost space in the business incubator, McGraw was able to buy his own 15,000-square-foot building on Two Notch Road to house his Fish Window Cleaning franchise and Do Right Cleaning janitorial service. None of it would have been possible, McGraw said, had it not been for the Business Development Center, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Set in the heart of a Columbia revitalization zone, it aims to help small and minority-owned businesses from its vantage point at the corner of Read Street and Two Notch Road — across from the college’s marquee Charlie W. Johnson Stadium. “One of the great benefits of starting that (window cleaning) business was that I was able to occupy rental space at the Business Development Center,” McGraw said. Without that, the Fairfield County entrepreneur said, he doubts he would have survived. “We not only became renters no more — we actually became owners,” McGraw said. “I stayed there long enough to actually acquire my own property. After almost 10 years, I felt comfortable moving out, creating my own (free-standing) business.”

Established in 2002, the center is described as the brainchild of Benedict College’s Harvard-educated president, David H. Swinton. It's goal is to promote and encourage development among new and expanding businesses, particularly among disadvantaged businesses, school officials say. The ultimate vision is for more jobs and a stronger minority business base in the Columbia area. “I think this is more than just the sum of its parts,” said Darlene Booth-Bell, executive director of the Business Development Center. She said the center brings a certain synergy to the neighborhood, helping to spur business along the corridor. McGraw himself moved just three blocks away.

The center provides such key, but costly business services as secretarial and accounting support, computers and conference rooms, as well as marketing assistance and financial planning. It was financed by a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and primarily is supported by the college, officials said. The center sometimes sees up to 30 budding entrepreneurs a quarter, Booth-Bell said. “The number of people who come here, I think at least tells me that people feel like they are helped here,” said Booth-Bell, also a Benedict College School of Business professor. “They may not know a lot about business, but if I can just establish and continue to establish the reputation that this is a place you can go to get started, and to really sort of figure out the lay of the land, then I’m happy with that.”

Some business incubators’ success is measured in terms of how many businesses “go public,” Booth-Bell said, referring to companies that sell ownership shares to the public to raise capital and become publicly traded. “We don’t look at that. We’re looking at micro-enterprises. That’s our specialty,” she said. Nearly 78 percent of all small businesses, defined as those employing 500 or fewer workers, actually have no employees in South Carolina, according to the Small Business Administration, and most have fewer than 20 employees.

Morgan, a window cleaner from the Mounts in Northampton, admits to eating cake more regularly than most.

Muffin man Morgan Punter explains his love of cakes: Morgan Punter loves cakes. Ever since he took a Saturday job in Oliver Adams when he was at school he has had a more than average enthusiasm for them and now he has written a whimsical book on the subject.  “Cakes need to be given a voice and this book intends in its own small way to do just that,” he writes in the introduction. Much Ado About Muffin is a self-published book available through Lulu.com, but it is not just about muffins and it is not a recipe book. It is a series of small essays and stories taking a fanciful and quirky look at all aspects of cake.

It includes Morgan’s assessment of the various varieties of cake, from jam tarts. “I always feel sorry for jam tarts. They’re the kind of cake people only buy if they wander into a bakery without realising they’ve only got 40p and just feel to embarrassed to walk out empty handed.” – to the vanilla slice. “The vanilla slice has always had me befuddled. How do you eat a vanilla slice without the cream spurting out everywhere and causing general distress to your trousers?... My personal favourite is to take a deep breath and try and eat it in one gargantuan mouthful.”

Morgan, a window cleaner from the Mounts in Northampton, admits to eating cake more regularly than most. He enjoys baking and has even made wedding cakes for family members. He thinks interest in cakes and baking is growing. The slim paperback is something to dip into now and then, Morgan said: “People may like it because it’s quite short and sweet, a little refreshment for five minutes.”