Window Cleaning News

Shed raid crushes snake handler’s dream as 19 pythons are stolen: A snake handler’s dream of breeding pythons has been crushed after thieves raided his tanks and stole 19 of his pets. Shaun Link has been left with just four of his 23 snakes after burglars broke into the shed in his Lynn back garden on Sunday night. He invested nearly £4,000 into his breeding stock and says the theft has put back his hopes of starting a business by two years. Window cleaner Mr Link believes that he was targeted as the burglars left his larger snakes along with expensive cameras and computer equipment after forcing open the shed door. The 30-year-old, who lives in Barnwell Road with his pregnant partner Emma Hallett, has been handling snakes for 12 years and also breeds lizards.

Pythons, which originate from Africa and Asia, kill their prey by constriction. Mr Link said it was “horrible” to discover the pythons had been taken. He said: “They are not just a hobby but they are pets as well. Some people would not class a snake like a cat or dog but I do. “I was devastated, it just felt like everything I had worked for and tried to do had been taken away. “This has destroyed a dream.” Nine Royal pythons, seven baby Burmese pythons and three reticulated pythons were stolen from the tanks on Sunday night. The snakes were aged between two years and four months old. The largest was about six foot long while the smallest was a foot. 

Mr Link had sold a few motorbikes to buy the young snakes to use as breeding stock when they were older. He began to buy them in December last year. He said: “I am worried about them and want them back. They were due a feed on Monday.” Although this is a rare incident for West Norfolk, scores of pet shops and private collections across the country have reported the loss of exotic animals. Earlier this year a crocodile was one of 100 animals stolen from a pet shop in Stockport. Some birds, including parrots, can be worth thousands and profits from the sale of these creatures increase the chances of theft.

Bellingham window washer needs help after nasty fall: A window washer in Bellingham suffered a frightening fall that left him battered and bruised. Now Bruce Sherman's friends are trying to make sure the accident doesn't wipe out his wallet. Sherman isn't used to the view from the inside of a hospital, but a recent fall on the job at a financial complex landed him in the emergency room with broken ribs, a collapsed lung and a traumatic brain injury. "I was either standing or kneeling on them and one gave out and next thing I knew I was on the ground," he said of the accident. Sherman, who's been washing windows for more than 30 years, said he had just finished the third floor windows when he came to a glass awning. He crashed through the glass and landed on the ground. "Well, I was just surprised that I was falling," he said. "This isn't holding me and I'm falling through."

Bruised and stitched up, the 64-year old isn't sure when he'll be released from the hospital. His doctor said he's not when or even if Sherman will recover from the brain injury. "Will he be able to work again? That, we don't know," said Sherman's wife, Peggy. For now, Sherman's sons are taking over the business, including finishing the job where their father fell ten feet. "It's a total shock," his son said. "Those awnings are strong enough to hop up and down on."

Sherman's oldest and closest friend from kindergarten is now reaching out to Renton High School alums from their class of 1966 asking for help. And while Sherman is a year away from retirement age, he said he isn't ready to throw in the squeegee just yet. He said he'd rather be hanging on the other side of the hospital window. Officials from Labor and Industries said because Sherman owns his own company, they won't investigate the accident because they're jurisdiction is limited to employees. If you'd like to contribute to the Bruce Sherman Donation Fund, you can do so at the Whatcom Educational Credit Union.

Charities say they are devastated after thieves broke in and stole almost £1,200 in takings. As Soon as Possible (ASAP) cat rescue and the Sue Ryder cancer shop, both in Wellington Way, Waterlooville, were targeted by thieves who broke in from the roofs. At ASAP £1,000 was taken from the safe. Even the hard drive from the 24- hour rolling CCTV – which would have identified the culprits – was stolen. Sharon Barker, assistant manager, said: ‘It’s the fact they could see what it was. It’s just the total disrespect, that’s the horrible thing. All these volunteers come in and give up their time. ‘We all work very hard as a team. ‘I think it’s disgusting that these people come in and do this – that’s a day’s work by the volunteers they have taken.’ Mrs Snelling wanted to thank the window cleaner, Colin Earle, who came to her aid when she walked in on the burgled shop and called the police. ‘I am just so grateful to him,’ she said. ‘He was absolutely fantastic,’

A jewellery shop director has described the moment an armed robber waved a gun at her and shouted ‘get down’. Helen Molloy was at Forum Jewellers in Broadstone when a gang of masked raiders smashed open cabinets and fled with thousands of pounds worth of watches and jewellery in a getaway car. She said she was working in the back office ‘on a normal day in quiet Broadstone’ when she heard a ‘kerfuffle’. “The next minute there’s a guy stood there with a gun telling us all ‘don’t move’ and to ‘get down on the floor’, which we did,” she said. “He was going around pointing and saying ‘get on the floor’ so we just did what he said.” Four staff, including Helen got down on the floor and two other workers were in the front of the shop.

Another two robbers had entered with sledgehammers and a fourth hooded man stood against the automatic doors. “All we could hear was smashing glass,” Helen added. “The two men with sledgehammers smashed three cabinets. “The guy in the door must have had a stopwatch and was shouting ‘30 seconds, 20 seconds’ and then ‘let’s go’. “Then they disappeared as quickly as they came and I’m just so glad no members of the public got involved as it was really busy outside.” The four hooded thieves had scarves covering their faces and the words ‘window cleaner’ printed on their tops.

Window cleaner admits to being 'most wanted' burglar: A window cleaner has admitted abusing his job to burgal homes. David Dunigan, 25, became one of Essex’s most wanted after committing a spate of break-ins between August 22 and September 19. He was finally arrested after his legs were spotted hanging out of a small window at a home in Churchill Way, Colchester, on Wednesday. He admitted four offences, and asked for three more to be taken into consideration, at Chelmsford Magistrates Court on Friday. He was released on conditional bail with a 7pm to 7am curfew and banned from any job involving knocking on doors. He will be sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court on November 1.

A reformed man armed himself with two hammers after seeing his friend and partner come off worst in a street fracas, a court heard. Two PCs were on duty in Monmouth Road, Grangetown, when they heard a commotion in a nearby car park. They saw a man crouching on the ground being punched at about 1.40am on June 20. While they were dealing with this, window cleaner John Beddow appeared. He ran towards one of the PCs carrying two hammers, one in each hand, prosecutor Ian Mullarkey told Teesside Crown Court yesterday. Beddow, 30, told the apparent assailant of the man on the floor: “Come on then. Do you think you’re clever?” When he saw the officers he ran off towards Avondale Close, where he lived. When police went to his home, he told them: “I admit I did have the hammers.” His partner got the weapons from a kitchen drawer. Beddow said he’d been drinking with the man who was found on the ground. When fighting began, he went home and fetched the two claw hammers, saw his mate beaten up and “saw red”.

Sink hole pane for Rod: Rod Clifton can be excused for getting a sinking feeling while driving home from the shops to his Carramar home last week. As he was driving through the roundabout at Sherton and Rustic drives in Carramar, the seemingly normal road in front of him opened up as his four-wheel-drive drove over it. “The road didn’t have any water on it, there were no cracks, it looked like any other piece of road, but it gave way when I drove over it,” he said. “I just saw the nose of my car dip down into a hole that opened up – I was completely shell-shocked. It’s lucky I was in such a big car that didn’t sink all the way down so we were able to get out OK.” It is believed workers installing cable damaged a water main, eroding the earth beneath the road. Mr Clifton, who owns a window cleaning business, said he had $25,000 worth of industrial window cleaning equipment on the back of his vehicle. “Now I just want to get my car back on the road so I can continue with my business,” he said. (Perth, Australia).

Matthew McKinnon Corey Announces Bid To Run As An Independent For Congress In First District: Corey graduated Manchester High School in 1982 and enlisted out of high school into the US Navy. He was deployed to Beirut in 1983 and served in the Navy until 1987. He worked for the US Post Office then shortly after he worked as a truck driver for the Teamsters (Roadway Corporation). Matthew decided to launch a High-rise window cleaning company in 1990, Advanced Services International, which is still a healthy viable business today. If you are lucky you may see Matthew today hanging from the rooftops of buildings in Hartford keeping things crystal clear!

Lawsuit: $73,000 Glass Pool Table Not Up to Scratch - The buyer of a futuristic, $73,000 glass pool table claims he's been snookered. In a complaint filed in Orange Country, Calif., superior court, the buyer alleges that the maker, Nottage Design of Australia, neglected to disclose one important fact about the table: Play on it with anything but specially-coated, custom-made balls, and you scratch the glass.

Brant Martin, a Dallas attorney representing the buyer (identified in the suit only as Desert Beach, an LLC) says his client learned this fact the hard way: He bought a $73,000 custom G-1 glass-top table for home use, played on it with "a standard set of pool balls, the kind that might be found in any pool hall," and discovered to his horror that this left the table "scuffed, scratched, damaged—essentially destroyed." The suit says shipping materials that accompanied the table included a sealed envelope with an inconspicuous notation saying that the balls shipped by Nottage were specially made for use with the table—but that this amounted to the "hiding" of so material a warning.

The buyer feels an injustice has been done, says Martin. The complaint seeks $219,000 in damages. Nottage, asked for comment by ABC News, did not respond. Nottage's website describes the table's glass surface as protected by Vitrik, a proprietary coating "which allows the balls to roll silently at a near identical rate to a standard cloth table… It's highly durable, completely non-toxic and is transparent." The site says the custom balls it sells are coated with a special finish "compatible" with Vitrik. "Please only use these balls," it advises.

Martin says this warning was added only after his client ruined his table and complained to the company. Prior to that, his client alleges, Nottage's website left buyers with the impression they could play with standard pool balls. The suit claims that at the time the buyer researched and negotiated his purchase, Nottage never once mentioned that its tables could only be used with its own specially-coated balls.

Gloucestershire mixed martial artist Che Mills has won his latest Ultimate Fighting Championship contest, stopping his opponent in the first round. In a fight broadcast around the world and in front of a crowd of thousands in Nottingham, Gloucester resident Mills beat his American opponent Duane Ludwig with just two minutes and 49 seconds on the clock. The stoppage came as a result of a knee injury suffered by Ludwig during an early take-down by 32-year-old Mills, whose manager said it was a slightly disappointing end to the fight. But the result leaves Mills, whose girlfriend is expecting their first child before the end of the month, in a good position to continue to raise his profile on the international mixed martial arts scene. Mills trains at the Trojan Free Fighters gym in Cheltenham and will take a few days rest before resuming training. Che is a welterweight, in the middle of the weight range, standing at 6ft 1in and weighing 12 stones or so. Before starting his fighting career he worked as a labourer and a window cleaner, as well as playing part-time football. He’s built like a brick outhouse and is clearly as hard as nails too but he’s surprisingly softly spoken, serious about his sport and humble about his growing success.

An Oklahoma woman accused of pushing her husband to his death from their high-rise apartment has filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the building's owner. Amber Hilberling, 20, filed the lawsuit Wednesday against University Club Tower. Hilberling remained jailed on a second-degree murder charge in last year's death of Joshua Hilberling, 23, who fell from their 25th-floor apartment. The lawsuit says Joshua Hilberling "tripped and stumbled" and crashed through the window. Hilberling claims in the lawsuit that the window's glass was too thin and violated safety codes. She's seeking more than $10,000 in damages for her and the couple's infant son. "Because of the dangerous thinness of the window glass, and its size and location, the glass could be broken by a minimal amount of pressure," the lawsuit alleged.

Prosecutors allege that Amber Hilberling shoved her husband through the window during an argument. She was being held without bond in the Tulsa County jail and awaits trial, which is set for March. Amber Hilberling's attorney, Jasen Corns, told Tulsa television station KTUL that the apartment complex knew or should have known that the window was unsafe. "This was a window as large as a dining room table and as thin as a napkin," Corns said. "It was dangerously unsafe and had no business in a 25th-floor living room. Had the window been reasonably safe, Amber would not be a widow and her child would have a father."

The window measured approximately 45.4 inches by 51.1 inches and was an eighth of an inch thick, it says. The petition alleges that the window was not made of the type of glass required by city of Tulsa building code. "Because of the dangerous thinness of the window glass, and its size and location, the glass could be broken by a minimal amount of pressure," the petition states. The defendants "knew or should have known" that the windows were deficient and unsafe, the petition alleges.

Gunshot victim plans reunion - 20 years on: Two men who were shot in an armed raid on a Sudbury supermarket are planning a reunion 20 years on. Jaime Howard and Jim Lewin suffered life-changing injuries during the robbery at the Gateway supermarket in East Street – now the Co-op – in 1992. Both of them were working in the store when the robbery took place at around 3pm on September 3. A lone gunman attacked security guard Jim as he delivered money to the store on behalf of the firm Securicor. After a scuffle, Jim was shot in the chest. Jaime, working as a cleaner, saw the gunman rush off with a money bag and gave chase. He ended up shot in the stomach at blank-point range.

The 42-year-old, of Canhams Road, Great Cornard, remembers the incident with clarity, even though it was 20 years ago. He said: “I just remember the disbelief at being shot – that this sort of thing could even happen in Sudbury. “Jim and I have kept in touch since it all happened by sending each other Christmas cards – he lives near Woodbridge – but I haven’t seen him for about 17 years. “We spoke the other day and had a good chat and we’re hoping to get together next Saturday for a reunion to mark it being 20 years since it happened. “We were in hospital together and I suppose something like that unites people. We have stayed in touch ever since.”

Jaime, who runs his own window cleaning business High Waters, was cleaning in a first-floor warehouse when he decided to go out of the store to collect something from his car. “I noticed two men fighting,” he recalls. “I thought one of them was my under-manager and I started to go to his aid. Then I heard two bangs and I saw this bloke run off.  “I didn’t have time to think about it, it was just instinctive. He was fighting with my friend and so I just tried to help. “I started chasing the man. The first two bullets missed me but the third one went through my stomach and liver, and my large and small intestine and came out of the other side. They never found the bullet but I gather it was from an automatic pistol. “I remember leaning on a wall and a guy saying ‘are you alright mate?’. Then it hit me, I’d been shot. I was in a lot of pain, it felt like an electric volt had just gone through me.”

Jim, who is now 74, and Jaime spent about three weeks in hospital in Bury St Edmunds. “Afterwards, Jim told me he had actually given the guy the money bag but he still shot him anyway,” he said. “Jim still carried on being a security guard and was actually held up again. He’s retired now of course. “It’s all a bit difficult to believe now but I still remember that feeling of disbelief that I had actually been shot.”

Why take out a maintenance contract on your new home? Cleaning - If you don't have time to keep your property clean and tidy it can become a health risk and attract pests. As well as general cleaning tasks, property maintenance companies can arrange professional carpet, curtain and window cleaning services. What to Look for in a property maintenance company: -

• Make sure they have valid public indemnity insurance.
• Choose a well-established, local company who aren't likely to go out of business in the near future.
• Ask for references and follow them up to find out if other customers are happy with the service.
• Make sure you understand all the terms of the maintenance contract before you sign on the dotted line.

The Weather Warriors: Those that brave nature’s fury — a one-hour program by meteorologist Art Horn will take place on Oct. 3 at 12:45, following the weekly Wednesday luncheon at Ogden House, 100 River Road. It will highlight many of the jobs people do while fighting the weather at the same time. These are the people whose jobs are out in all kinds of dangerous and rapidly changing weather and who risk their lives every day, depending on what Mother Nature throws at them. From commercial fishermen to pilots, big rig truckers, high rise window washers, farmers, forest fire fighters, construction workers, hurricane hunters and many more. Call the senior center for reservations at 203-834-6240.

Window safety a common theme in several October awareness campaigns: Multiple national safety awareness campaigns in October are leading homeowners nationwide to focus attention on their windows and doors. Fire Prevention Week (October 7-13), Crime Prevention Month and National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week (October 21-27) are all being observed during the month of October. "There's a common denominator of window and door safety in each of these public awareness campaigns," says Gary Pember, vice president of marketing for Simonton Windows. "Homeowners should familiarize themselves with the operating and safety features of their windows and patio doors to help make their homes safer. From practicing fire drills with children to using locking hardware on windows, consumers need to actively participate in safety and security practices in the home."

Tip #6 - Never put nails or screws in a window frame to hold up holiday lights or decorations. Also, do not glue, staple or tape lights to a window frame. All of these activities can be potential fire hazards and can impede the successful operation of the window.

Tip #7 - Do not place lit candles on a window sill, nor the sash.

Tip #8 - Never decorate windows with anything that could impede them from opening quickly, in case you need to use the window as an escape route during an emergency. For example, don't wrap garland or artificial pine branches around the window hardware.

Tip #9 - Although tempting, do not spray "fake snow" from aerosol cans on your windows. The "snow" residue can be hard to remove after the holidays and can hamper the operation of your window if it gums up the sash or hardware.

Tip #10: Don't ever paint shut windows. Every window in the home must be operational in case of an emergency.

Tip #11 - Homeowners should plant shrubs, grass and place "soft landscaping" items like bark and mulch directly underneath windows to help lessen the impact should someone fall out the window.

Tip #12 - Determine what year your house was built. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the routine opening and closing of windows painted with lead-based paint (primarily in homes built prior to 1978) can cause microscopic paint dust to be released into the air.

F & G Cleaners Ltd v Saddington: Appeal by the respondent employer against a ruling that the claimants had not failed to mitigate their losses by refusing to accept an alternative offer of work. Appeal dismissed. The claimants were employed by Respondent 1 as window cleaners when the contract was re-tendered and won by Respondent 2, the appellant in this appeal. R2 did not accept that there had been a TUPE transfer and instead made them offers of work on a self-employed basis and on lesser terms. The claimants refused the offer and won their claims of unfair dismissal at the ET. The EJ ruled that they had not failed to mitigate their losses on the basis that the claimants would lose their statutory rights if engaged on self-employed terms – which would have been lost once they were dismissed in any event.

SUMMARY - UNFAIR DISMISSAL – Mitigation of loss: The Claimants worked for Respondent 1 who supplied window cleaning services under contract to a local authority. The contract was subject to a re-tendering process; Respondent 2 was successful and the contract passed to them. R2 refused to accept the Claimants as employees and, instead, made them offers of work on a self-employed basis and on lesser terms. R2 appealed against the Employment Tribunal's rejection of their case that the Claimants had failed to mitigate the loss caused by their unfair dismissal by refusing to accept the alternative offer.

Mixed cleaning products create HazMat situation (Houston): Police say a woman who mixed toilet bowl cleaner with bleach created a HazMat situation at her southwest Houston apartment complex. The incident happened around 5:30pm at an apartment complex on Timmons Lane near Colquitt. Police say a plumber responded to a call at the woman's apartment and became concerned when no one answered. He entered through a window and found the woman dead. "As soon as I seen that, I hopped out, left and called the cops," the plumber told us. When police arrived and smelled the chemicals, a HazMat crew and a bomb squad were dispatched to the scene. Neighbors in the units immediately surrounding that of the woman's were evacuated. An extensive cleanup effort lasted into the night. The scene was clear and residents were allowed back in their homes by 2:30am. No other injuries were reported, though we were told a couple of firefighters had to be decontaminated, or essentially washed down.

Fire Incident Reports - A Carbon Monoxide Issue: 12 a.m. – Firefighters responded to a carbon monoxide alarm activation on Cottage Street and, upon finding elevated readings, opened all of the windows and turned on the fans in the house. Companies also spoke to a landscaper who was power-washing the house, whose machine was sending exhaust into the home. After the windows were open and the machine turned off, the readings dropped immediately.

Cops and councils join forces to tackle rogue traders: Doorstep criminals are being cracked down on, as councils and police join forces to tackle the ongoing problem of rogue traders who prey on the more vulnerable in local communities. Fortnight-long Operation Bionic (until last Friday, September 28) across Central Scotland has seen visits to builders, roofers, gardeners and window cleaners working on residential properties. Details have been recorded and checks made to ensure they are legitimate, in a bid to reduce fear of bogus workers, plus support proper businesses and gather intelligence in the fight against doorstep crime. Falkirk Council’s environment and community safety convener, Councillor Dr Craig R Martin said: “There are some horrific examples in our communities of how rogue traders have ripped off consumers to the tune of thousands of pounds. “We, along with our partner agencies, are determined to stop these individuals and wherever possible, prosecute them to the fullest extent.”

Firefighters from Jackson, Summit Township, Lansing area undergo ropes rescue training:  JACKSON, MI – If a construction worker falls down a pit or a window washer gets trapped on the side of a tall building, area firefighters will be better prepared to render aid. Sixteen firefighters from Summit Township, Jackson, Howell and other departments in south central Michigan are being trained this week in rope rescue. The training ends Friday, when firefighters will test their new skills in staged rescue scenarios at the old Hayes Hotel in downtown Jackson and elsewhere. Firefighters in Jackson have started a technical rescue team, which specializes in helping people from trenches, collapsed buildings, high places, confined spaces or machines. To do so, they are using grant funds and donated equipment, said Summit Township Lt. Jim Warner, who is part of the team. The group has its own trailer.

Organisers of The Cleaning Show have recently announced an impressive number of new features at the next exhibition which will take place at the NEC in Birmingham from 19th - 21st March 2013. With such a full programme of attractions, the largest number of exhibitors yet, as well as a co-location with the very popular IMHX 2013 event, The Cleaning Show 2013 is set to be the biggest and best ever. The Cleaning Show is organised every two years on behalf of the cleaning industry by BCCE Ltd, a company jointly owned by the British Cleaning Council and Quartz Business Media.  Over 200 exhibitors, specialising in a variety of different sectors, will be present at the 2013 show, with over 50 exhibiting for the first time.

Martin Scott, exhibition sales director, said: “We expect The Cleaning Show 2013 to attract a record breaking number of visitors and exhibitors and with The International Materials Handling Exhibition running alongside the show, a huge increase in visitor numbers from the warehouse sector is assured.  Exhibitors have one opportunity every two years to get their products in front of a massive buying audience – and they are certainly grasping this opportunity with both hands.” Paul Thrupp, director of cleaning at OCS Group UK, added: “The Cleaning Show is a must for our 2013 calendar.  Having visited the exhibition in previous years, it gives us the opportunity to see the huge number of new and innovative products and services that are on offer.  We would not miss the UK’s premier cleaning exhibition as it provides great value to our business.”

Solar energy – How exactly can it work for me? Upkeep - Solar panels can have an average life of 25 years and inverters (which convert energy into the required AC power) will probably need to be replaced at some point, at an average cost of £1,000. The panels will also need to be cleaned periodically and there are a number of specialist window cleaning companies who will do this for around £30.

Czech Moonshine Kills 21: Like most alcohol purveyors throughout the Czech Republic that night, the club owner was about to be informed of a government decree banning all drinks with an alcohol percentage of 20 and above. If he didn’t comply he would face up to 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of three million koruna (EUR 120,470). Despite the widespread public attention to the series of methanol poisoning cases that claimed lives throughout the country during the preceding week, the prohibition came as a total shock to vendors as well as consumers. As this paper went to press 21 people had been confirmed dead at the latest count from tainted alcohol and more than three dozen were hospitalised. In some cases the victims went blind. A country that considers its breweries and distilleries an indisputable part of its national heritage suddenly finds itself a victim of the black market.

Hungary not immune - Back in the summer of 2007 customs officials discovered 14 illegal factories in eastern Hungary which had been converting window cleaning fluid into vodka. They found evidence that some two million litres of bootleg vodka had been produced but only found 5,000 litres. It was thought that the remaining 1,995,000 litres ended up behind the bars of low-end pubs or had already been drunk. Such hooch is produced by removing glycerine, acetic acid, sodium hypochlorite and perfumes and colourants from alcohol-based window cleaning fluid. Alcohol-based cleaning products are often based on denatured alcohol. This is ethyl alcohol to which other chemicals (usually methanol) have been added to make the liquid poisonous and undrinkable. Methylated spirits, or meths, are usually a mixture of 90 per cent ethanol and 10 per cent methanol.

Dutch window cleaners: I personally think Dutch window cleaners could easily be killers. That’s not to say I think any one of them is a murderer. It’s more about the way they could give someone a heart attack, with me being the first victim. Let me explain for a minute what I mean by this. I happen to live in an apartment building in The Hague centrum. The apartment has two floors. The first floor of the unit is the equivalent of the second story of the building. At street level is a supermarket. One side of the unit has windows overlooking the main street, while the other side has windows and a balcony on the building’s courtyard. The street side of our building is fairly sheer. No ledges or terraces.

Hopefully you can understand why the only thing that should ever pass my windows on the street side is the random bird which may fly by quickly. But now consider this scenario…. You are at a desk that sits against a wall between two windows. Your head is down because you’re writing or perhaps typing something on your keyboard. All of a sudden a shadow crosses your desk. By the time you look up, you catch the tail end of something that just past the window. Knowing you are three to four  stories from street level, you jump but quickly think I must have imagined it. Then you turn to the other window and not more than three feet from you, there is something outside the window. No matter how many times this has happened, and the corresponding number of times I have insisted to myself to remember it so I’m not taken so by surprise, I swear I practically have a heart attack every time.

What is this thing that keeps trying to kill me? In short, Dutch window cleaners and their extended window-cleaning poles! Yes, here in Holland they have these scrub brushes attached to super-extending poles. Inside the poles run a hose which is used to shoot a glass cleaning solution on the window. The window is then brushed. Where is the person who is doing the window cleaning? Down on the street level. Have a look…

After my initial shock, I always have a good laugh once my pulse rate gets back down under 200. If you happen to be new to the Netherlands, or making plans for a move here, and live or will be living a few stories above ground level, don’t be alarmed if something unexpected goes by your window. It might just be a telescopische glasbewassing. Here’s an interesting side note on this topic… it turns out that back in November, a window cleaning cartel was broken up in this very part of South Holland. Who knew?! You can read that story here. If you happen to be looking for a window cleaner in The Hague, Rotterdam, Leiden or elsewhere in South Holland, your best bet is to check this page from the AngloINFO South Holland business directory.

A glimpse into the $177 million St. Patrick's Cathedral restoration: St. Patrick’s Cathedral, one of New York City’s most recognized landmarks, is getting a much-needed facelift. The 140-year-old cathedral is almost completely shrouded in scaffolding as it undergoes a painstaking 22-month restoration project to enhance its aesthetic beauty and extend its functionality for the next 25 years—and beyond. It’s a $177 million effort that couldn’t come at a more crucial time—the recommended restoration cycle for a building like this is typically every 30 years. More than 60 years have passed since significant work was done on the cathedral, putting its long-term stability at great risk. “This project is about stabilizing the building and addressing all of the maintenance issues that have been neglected over the years,” said architect Jeffrey Murphy.

The second and third phases will be dedicated to repairing the stone and wood that comprise the building’s exterior, re-glazing stained glass storm windows and updating the cathedral’s interior. The altars will all be replaced and more than 1,000 stained-glass windows will be cleaned with a few extracted for special attention. Parts of the ceiling and walls will also be repainted in this project, scheduled for completion by May 2014. These restorative efforts are as much about injecting new life into the 140-year old cathedral, as they are about reviving the vision of renowned 19th century architect James Renwick Jr., the mastermind architect.