Window Cleaning News

Watch the new Ninja "BucketOnABelt" video below. Watch the video and count how many ninja characters appear (don’t count the same ninja twice!). Email your answer to ninja@ungerglobal.com  All entries must be submitted by Thursday, September 8th. If your guess is correct, you will be entered into a raffle to win one of five Ninja BOAB's. Winners will be announced on September 9th.

Area Businesses Bank on Irene Clean-up: While some businesses on the North Fork are feeling the economic crunch of being forced to close during the few precious days left of the summer season, others are benefitting from cleanup after Tropical Storm Irene, which is taking place across the area. Evidence of Irene's stay is widespread. Thousands of area residents and businesses are still without electricity, and while overall property damage was minimal, yard damage was extensive. For many waterfront residents, the worst damage came in the form of a salty film that covered windows after Irene whipped up wind, rain and salt water for nearly 24 hours. As a result, Crystal Clear Window Cleaning, which services all of Long Island, has been busier than ever. “Normally this is one of the slower weeks of the year for us,” said owner Lisa Cifarelli. “The storm has given a big boost to our schedule and business.” This week last year, Crystal Clear Window Cleaning had 39 appointments scheduled for the week before Labor Day. This year, as a result of Irene, they’ve had 223. “Most of it is people doing the exterior of the windows to remove salt and tree debris,” Cifarelli explained. Some glass businesses bustling, others quiet, in Irene’s wake.

No suspects have been identified in a reported armed robbery of a window washer at a St. Louis Park restaurant. The incident in question occurred on July 25 at Mill Valley Kitchen. A 39-year-old man who was washing the restaurant’s windows after hours said a man came up behind him, stuck a gun in his back, and demanded money. The suspect allegedly forced the man inside and made him get down on the floor. The window washer gave the suspect his wallet—which contained $300—and his cell phone. The suspect then fled, but the window washer said he was scared and didn’t get up for about five minutes, so he didn’t see where the suspect went. The window washer also didn’t get a good look at the suspect and couldn’t make out his race, age or size. He did say the suspect was wearing a red and white horizontally striped shirt, baggy jeans and had something covering his face. Police recovered the alleged victim’s wallet near the scene, but weren’t able to dust for fingerprints because the wallet was too ragged and worn. K-9s also were unable to track the suspect. Surveillance cameras installed at the adjoining Ellipse Apartments did not catch the incident.

Spontaneous honouring of funeral corteges of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq became famous across the world. Wootton Bassett lowers flag for last time as repatriations move to Brize Norton. As always, the regulars started turning up many hours earlier than they needed to. Kevin Dunn took time off from his window-cleaning round to stake his place on Wootton Bassett high street, as he had scores of times before. In his bright beret, former paratrooper Dave Soane was easily spotted near the war memorial, greeting old comrades and friends. The town's councillors were out explaining patiently once again – and perhaps for the last time – how over the past four years this modest Wiltshire town has become such a focus for the nation's grief. Since 2007 Bassett, as it is known to the locals, has ground to a halt whenever the bodies of British service personnel are driven down the high street after being repatriated through nearby RAF Lyneham. Townspeople and, at the height of the conflict in Afghanistan, thousands of visitors have stood with bereaved families to watch corteges pass through en route to a hospital in Oxfordshire. Kevin Dunn, a window cleaner from Swindon, has only missed five of the 167 repatriations (comprising 345 men and women as many involved more than one body). He recalls in particular the return of a Fijian soldier's body. "His whole village was there by the town hall, it seemed. They sang from 9am to 5pm without stopping for a drink or food – amazing."

Dave Kalil grinds you down. The 47-year-old “King” of Worcester’s Lake Park public tennis complex beats seemingly more polished opponents with a diabolical blend of fitness, dink shots, lobs, bloopers and sheer competitive drive. It isn’t pretty, but it’s effective. Kalil’s unique brand of intensity and homemade shots were on display earlier this month at the Worcester County Open at the Worcester Tennis Club. Now here’s the kicker. After two matches that would leave most mortals exhausted, especially on a hot humid day like this one, Kalil drove to Manchester, N.H., to play what he thought was going to be a third singles match, as a member of his 4.5-level USTA club team. Instead, he ended up on the losing side of a doubles match. Most players would have been thankful for the doubles respite, but not Kalil. He was disappointed at not getting in another singles joust. “I can do that all day long,” said Kalil, a Worcester resident who owns a window washing business. “My game is based on speed and grinding away. I’m trying to get people’s legs out from under them.”

Maxton native Steve Coleman has worn many hats in his professional life. His journey has taken him from working at a computer store in Laurinburg to the position of plant engineer for Vanity Fair Corporation in Texas and now brings him closer to home. Coleman is now the owner of a window-cleaning franchise in Greensboro. He was recently awarded for his success in turning the franchise, which he purchased as a struggling business, into a profitable enterprise. After being laid off at the nadir of the economic downturn, Coleman found himself unemployed and overqualified for most available jobs. “I really just wanted to work,” Coleman said. “I would have swept floors at Walmart, but I was overqualified. Finally I told my wife that we had to do something, so we moved back to Maxton, we moved in with my mother.” With some urging from his sister, Betty Kay Coleman, a waitress at General McArthur’s, Coleman found a way out of his predicament. “She asked me if I’d put my faith in God to help me. I went to bed thinking about what my sister said, and I woke up the next day feeling like a new man.”

That day, Coleman found a Fish Window Cleaning franchise available for purchase in Greensboro. His newest opportunity had arrived, and he moved to Greensboro in January 2010. “I had to make my own job, so I prayed and the Lord delivered a franchise – window cleaning,” Coleman said. “It turned out that I loved it.” “I’m a hard worker and I’ve applied all of the business experience I gained while working for Vanity Fair Corporation,” said Coleman. At a recent Fish Window Cleaning national convention, Coleman was recognized for the success of his business. Coleman received a Soaring Eagle award for buying a floundering franchise and turning it into a success, as well as a Pinnacle Award for increasing revenue production, and a Navigator award for his work with prospective franchises. “My business is booming,” Coleman said. “I’ve got contracts with Elon and High Point Universities. If you get out and hustle, you can make it.”

Lewton calls his 60-by-100-foot work “The Airshaft Mural.” It’s a trompe l’oeil design that looks as if the concrete pylon is pierced by windows through which the U.S Capitol peeps. “I sort of wanted to emphasize the concrete,” Lewton said. “I thought if it looked like it had been penetrated, it would make it look even more solid than it was.” Lewton painted a one-third scale mock-up of his design on foam core panels in his studio, carefully matching the concrete’s color. When it was time to paint the beast, Lewton hired a window-washing company in lieu of building a scaffold so the painters could go up and down the face of the shaft freely.

In one of the city’s most unique fundraising events, 64 brave souls scaled the exterior of the 23-story i-bank Tower (formerly White Station Tower) in East Memphis Friday, Aug. 26, and Saturday, Aug. 27, for Over the Edge, a high-thrills fundraiser for Special Olympics of Greater Memphis. Participants were guided by experts from Over the Edge, a Canadian-based special events company that produces rappelling event for charities across the U.S. and Canada. The company, whose staff members train firefighters, SWAT teams, window washers and recreational climbers, handles all technical aspects of the event, from professional staff to equipment to insurance and the enforcement of federal and state safety laws. For many participants, including Special Olympics of Greater Memphis executive director Lisa Taylor, the rappel was their first ever. “Over the Edge is great at what they do, and I think they love working with the individuals who are afraid of heights, and they can watch us conquer our fears,” Taylor said. “They’re just fantastic.” After suiting up in full harnesses, helmets and gloves and undergoing numerous safety checks and a one-story practice rappel, Memphians with a taste for adventure embarked on the once-in-a-lifetime journey 225 feet down the tower.

23 OFWs repatriated from Bahrain - BAHRAIN – Twenty-three overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) were finally repatriated to Manila after 3 months of waiting at the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) shelter in Bahrain. The 23 repatriates were composed of 18 undocumented workers and 5 OFWs who were detained on various charges. The group was temporarily housed at the OWWA shelter at the Philippine Embassy. According to Ambassador Maria Corazon Yap-Bahjin, the government of Bahrain played a big role in the repatriation of OFWs, as it waived fines for those who lack the proper documents to stay in the country. The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) shouldered the cost of the plane tickets of the 20 workers while the remaining 3 were paid for by the workers’ agencies and employers.

Naga City native Gina Mallo, who had been staying at the OWWA shelter for about 4 months, said she was happy to be among the group of repatriates. Mallo said her employer did not pay her salary for 3 months. Because of her undocumented status, her employer did not bring her to a hospital after she suffered injuries when a window she was cleaning accidentally shattered. Worse, her employer even charged her the cost of the broken window. With this bad experience, she urged Filipinos to seriously think about working abroad to prevent them from going through a similar ordeal.

Ryan Christopher McElwee: Ryan Christopher McElwee, formerly of Mount Laurel, passed away suddenly and has joined his Lord on Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2011. He was 30. Ryan resided in West Milford, N.J., where he was employed as a landscaper. He was a graduate of Lenape High School and worked at Sonshine Window Washing company while he was a resident of Mount Laurel. Ryan will always be remembered by his engaging personality and his warm and sincere smile. No task was too much for Ryan. He took on every endeavor as a challenge and had a very professional work ethic that made him a pleasure to be with. He will be deeply missed by his family and friends alike.

KASABIAN will play a poignant gig in New York — on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. And the timing of the show has made the Leicester lads think about how their lives have changed since that horrendous day in 2001. Frontman Tom Meighan (2nd left) says: "It will be strange for us playing in the city on such a big weekend for New York people. It will be emotional. "I was at work and remember hearing 9/11 unfold on the radio. I remember going home and being in absolute shock. My mum had it on the news. It was f***ing awful." You are just as likely to find these boys in a curry house in Leicester as you are in some swanky London hotel bar. And they still look our for their nearest and dearest. Tom says: "I buy tickets for me, my dad, my brother and my dad's mate Rod. I just look after them. My mum and dad are in a better place. My dad is still a window cleaner and my mum is still a nurse but they're part-time, which is nice. "We had done a deal with Mercedes to give music to their adverts and they looked after us. "I don't drive, so I just gave the Mercedes to my old man. He was buzzing. It's great, this big car outside their bungalow. It's nice, man.

In English city, cleaning windows becomes a tourist draw: YORK, ENGLAND—Helen Brower is a window cleaner and people pay five pounds ($7.25) an hour to watch her work. Brower is one of a half dozen glaziers hired to clean and restore the world’s largest collection of medieval stained-glass windows. They festoon York Minster, one of Europe’s largest cathedrals and they need to be cleaned every 125 years. More than 43 kilometres of scaffolding was erected to remove the world’s largest stained-glass window — called the Great East Window — in an end wall of the massive cathedral in the heart of this historic city in northern England. Artist John Thornton was paid 56 pounds to create the window, which is the size of a tennis court, 650 years ago in 1361. Today it’ll cost 19 million pounds just to clean and restore it. On Wednesday and Friday afternoons, tours — with a maximum of 10 people — are conducted into the bowels of the cathedral to watch glaziers work on the medieval window panes. While down there visitors can also see remains of the Roman fortress that once stood on this site before the cathedral was built between 1220 and 1472. Yes, it took 252 years.

Glass Falls from Downtown AT&T Building, INDIANAPOLIS: Police shut down Ohio Street downtown between Meridian and Illinois Streets Wednesday afternoon after glass fell from a 19th floor window of the AT&T building. The exact cause for the break in the window but AT&T's building manager tells our partners at Fox59 they've ruled out a person, bird or projectile as the cause. However, heat could possibly be the cause. Mark Eads with Capitol City Class tells Fox59 that heat can cause glass to shatter, especially if it's spandrel or tempered safety glass. Eads says a small amount of dirt in the glass with the right amount of head on one side combined with cooling on the other can make the glass vulnerable and possibly break. Several people were on the sidewalk when the glass fell but no one was injured.

More Falling Glass From a Hotel, This Time at The Four Seasons Seattle - Just when we thought the falling glass trend was behind us, some windows have shattered again, this time at the Four Seasons Seattle on Sunday. And much like what happened with the W Austin the loose window panes were actually from the residences that are attached to the hotel. But what's worse here is that this is the third time windows have fallen from the building since July. Needless to say the hotel has finally gotten the idea that all 300 of the tempered-glass windows need to be replaced. The hotel's GM told the Seattle Times "Our only priority here is the safety of everybody involved, either residents or people passing by," said the hotel's general manager, Ben Trodd. "We've taken a very proactive step now. The general contractor is now removing all of the remaining panels that are on the building." The balconies, all on the condo levels between the 11th and 21st floors, will be closed until new panels or a new railing system are installed."

Woman and children hurt by falling glass in Hounslow: Ambulances rushed to Hounslow High Street on Thursday after shards of glass fell on pedestrians. Paramedics were called to the town centre at around 1.56pm, following reports that glass had fallen onto people during a busy time of day outside the former HMV shop. Police cordoned off the part of the High Street affected and the surrounding area. The glass fell from a window above the old HMV premises. Duty officer Colin Passey said: "We treated three patients, a 40-year-old woman who had cuts to her face and arms, a nine-year-old boy with a cut to his head, and an eight-year-old girl with cuts to her left forearm and to her left eye. "They were all conscious and breathing and none of the injuries are serious. All three were taken to West Middlesex Hospital."

Window Cleaning People & News

Va governor warns worst of Irene yet to come - saving the windows! Missy Seavey, employee for Kohr Bros. on Atlantic Avenue near 22nd Street, looks down an largely empty sidewalk at the Virginia Beach, VA, oceanfront area on Friday afternoon, Aug. 26, 2011. Hurricane Irene has the potential to cause billions of dollars in damage all along a densely populated arc that includes Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, Boston and beyond. At least 65 million people could be affected. In Virginia Beach, souvenir shops and other businesses along the resort strip were protected by sandbags and plywood nailed over windows. The usually bustling oceanfront was virtually abandoned as waves lashed the beach. The city had several shelters open, including one at an elementary school that housed about 100 people — most of them homeless.

Within weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Smithsonian Institution began collecting a wide range of artifacts recovered from the three sites where the hijacked planes went down. “There are some everyday moments in the midst of destruction. There are things we all recognize. They help people understand it happened to all of us,” Yeh said. Some are ordinary objects — a window shade and seat belt from the wreckage of United Airlines Flight 93 in Shanksville. Some are ordinary but became extraordinary. Jan Demczur, a window washer at the World Trade Center, donated his squeegee handle to the museum. On Sept. 11, he was stuck in an elevator with five other men in one of the towers. He used the handle to force open the elevator door and then dig through the wall. All six were saved.

LONDON — Frederick A. Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, used to lose his temper because of biscuits and sent the bank’s staff into “panic mode” because of a broken model airplane, according to a new book. When a window cleaner fell off a ladder in Mr. Goodwin’s office and broke a small model airplane, some people at the bank worried more about the broken toy than about the window cleaner, according to the book written by two British Conservative politicians and scheduled for publication next month. A short excerpt from the book was published in Prospect magazine on Thursday. The two politicians, Matthew Hancock, a former chief of staff of the chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, and Nadhim Zahawi, disclose these details about Mr. Goodwin, who was widely blamed for the downfall of Royal Bank of Scotland, in “Masters of Nothing: The Crash and How It Will Happen Again,” a book about how human behavior made the financial crisis worse.

Window Cleaning Warehouse - The Tune! Did you know Window Cleaning Warehouse have started a record label? Here is the first offering - expect a whole album of window cleaning based tracks soon!

When the Bronx was burning 40 years ago, Angel Cruz was setting borough basketball courts on fire with dazzling slam dunks and dribble drives. He dominated the concrete playgrounds at the Patterson Houses in Mott Haven, wowed street ball crowds in Harlem, and then turned pro and played for Puerto Rico at the Olympic Games. But then the human grasshopper known as "Monchito" - perhaps the greatest Nuyorican player of all time - vanished. No friends or family have laid eyes on Cruz for more than a decade. "We don't know what happened to Angel," said Noemi Cruz-Lymon, the star point guard's sister. "No one knows." Cruz's heartbroken family will host a charity basketball game in his name tomorrow at the Patterson Houses, where he grew up. Angel Cruz Jr., 34, Monchito's eldest son, feels the same way. "With my father, you never knew what to expect," said the Bronx window cleaner. "He would pop up out of nowhere and act like nothing was wrong."Angel Cruz Jr. holds photo of his dad, Angel (Monchito) Cruz, who has been missing since 1998.

‘Little Elvis’ death – man arrested. A man has been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the death of a well-known Morpeth karaoke star. Michael Marshall, who was known locally as Little Elvis, died on Tuesday, two hours after an altercation at Sanderson Arcade in the town centre. A 55-year-old man was arrested and released with no further action and a 49-year-old man has been released on police bail after he was arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Mr Marshall, 52, died following an incident outside the Corbridge Larder at about 3.30pm on Tuesday. Police say there was a “verbal altercation”, before he was assaulted. It is not thought that any weapon was used. Staff from Sanderson Arcade rushed to help and an off-duty nurse and lifeguard administered first aid before paramedics arrived. An assistant from the Corbridge Larder is also believed to have helped. Another resident said: “Everyone knew him, he used to be a window cleaner. He loved the karaoke and he always introduced himself as ‘Little Elvis’.

"That's what's great about disc golf," he said. "Someone my age can compete. And someone 100 times my age can play." With that, the father and son stood to announce this year's regular-season rankings and the night's pairings. The guy to beat this year was Luis Nava (pictured). Though the 25-year-old only made one ace -- that's disc golf lingo for hole-in-one -- he still had the best score of the season. "I'm a birdie person," he said. Though some Tuesday Twos competitors have been playing for a decade or more, Nava only began throwing three years ago. "But when I first started, I played four to five hours after work every day," he said as he warmed up for the finals. "I just couldn't stop. I fell in love with this game." He still plays nearly obsessively. By day, he's a skyscraper window washer. Come 5 o'clock, he heads to Orchard or another Metro-area disc golf park. His two brothers and his sister often play, too. That constant playing will come to a temporary end soon. Nava and his wife, Carla, are expecting their first child -- a girl --in December, and he promised to take a six-month hiatus once the baby comes.

Dirty Jobs That Nobody Wants: With 14 million Americans out of work, long  grim lines at job fairs, and employment agencies jammed with the hopeful, there are still jobs that go begging. Despite the desperate measures some are taking to find employment, a handful of positions remain stubbornly vacant. Last month the ratings firm Fitch reported that even with high unemployment, some businesses can’t fill their openings. Window washer: Almost all window washing jobs involve scary heights and exposure to the elements. Injury rates are high—about eight window washers in New York City are involved in accidents each year, and 75 died on the job there between 1983 and 2008. Finding people comfortable both on a scaffold and with a squeegee is tough. Leonard Malray of Contract Services Group, based in California’s Orange County, says that of six open window-cleaning jobs he’s had open since the beginning of the year, he’s filled only two.

Southfields dad committed suicide after housing benefit cut: A desperate man who lined up three kitchen knives before stabbing himself twice in the heart, blamed cuts in housing benefit. Unemployed Richard Sanderson took his own life after writing three suicide notes which were laid out neatly on a bed in a meticulously planned act. In one to his wife he wrote: “Don’t come into the bathroom, this time I will most certainly be deceased”. Mr Sanderson, who said he could not face the thought of his family being homeless, stabbed himself twice in the heart with a kitchen knife on May 29 at home in Augustus Road, Southfields, after years of being unable to find work finally took its toll, an inquest heard. The 44-year-old former helicopter pilot wrote three suicide notes – two for his wife, Petra, and one for the police – after carefully planning the suicide over several days. Mr Sanderson, who was also a window cleaner, met his wife while travelling in South Africa in 1995 before the pair eventually settled in Wimbledon in 2007 to find better work prospects in London.

Japan faces costly, unprecedented radiation cleanup: Pictured, a worker decontaminating radiated particles on a window of an elementary school in Fukushima, northern Japan. Nearly six months after the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years at the Fukushima nuclear plant, Japan faces the task of cleaning up a sprawling area of radioactivity that could cost tens of billions of dollars, and thousands may not be able to return home for years, if ever. Fuel core meltdowns at the facility in March, triggered by a huge earthquake and tsunami, released radioactive material into the air which mixed with rain and snow and covered dozens of towns as well as farmland and woods, mainly along the northeast coast of Honshu. Tokyo has been slow to provide a plan for rehabilitation, leading some residents near the plant, who have been exposed to high levels of radioactive caesium in homes and food, to start their own cleanup instead of waiting for the government to act.

Aldar's desert disc is simply unique: ABU DHABI // "Simple" is not the word that jumps to one's mind when driving into Abu Dhabi and seeing the gigantic disc standing on its side in the desert. But that is the word Randall Heinrich, the senior project manager at Aldar, uses to describe the property developer's new headquarters at Al Raha Beach. "People see the shape from the outside and you get people commenting that it's an inefficient building, but it's not," Mr Heinrich says. "It's great. It's a very simple building. It has two poles coming up the middle of the building and the structure built around it. "Yes, you've got larger floors in the centre but all the floors are very open, beautiful spaces. Everyone expected it to be a wonderful building but it's also practical." The slim, circular building on a concrete plinth is the result of slightly less than three years of work and has more than 3,000 panes of glass. Apart from the empty moat, the vision of Aldar's offices is complete. Twenty-three storeys tall with three underground parking levels, the building is one of a kind, says Tony Abi Gebrayel, the area manager of the designer, MZ Architects.

Addict's £1000 theft 'has wrecked family business' - The mother of a drug addict who posed as a window cleaner to con residents into paying for work not carried out has spoken of her fears his actions have ruined her husband's business. Steven Walton (pictured), whose father David owns a window cleaning business, targeted regular city customers to fund his heroin addiction.

His victims included an 82-year old woman, from whose bank card he stole £1000 after she entrusted it to him. Yesterday, at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, the 36-year-old was placed on a drug treatment and testing order for 18 months. Walton, who has been a heroin addict since he was at school, was recently released from custody in Saughton.

Today his mother Ann Walton, from Sighthill, said: "Steven used to work for my husband. People are going to read this and not want my husband's services. This being in the open will really affect our business and my husband's business." She said the family have stayed clear of him for some time. She said: "I've had really nothing to do with him much, because of what happened."

Yesterday, Sheriff Alistair Noble heard Walton had previously pleaded guilty to stealing £1000 between March 13 and March 21 this year; to obtaining £5, £10 and £20 by fraud on April 18; and stealing £15 from a house on the same day. Fiscal depute John Kirk told the court that Walton was estranged from his family but his father allowed him to sleep in his van from time to time and he had helped him with cleaning in the past.

On this occasion he went to the 82-year old woman's home and asked for money, but she had no money on her and gave him her bank card and the pin number, which he then used on a number of occasions. The prosecutor added that Walton had two minor previous convictions. Walton's defence solicitor, Angus McLennan, said the woman had become suspicious and contacted the police, while another customer raised the alarm when the real cleaner turned up looking for his money. The defence agent said Walton knew that cleaners often returned for payment at a later stage and had come across the 82-year-old victim while helping his father. He added: "It was an opportunistic theft. The temptation proved too much for him".

As for going round other houses, Mr McLennan said Walton had been "simply chancing his luck by knocking on doors of homes he knew his father had cleaned windows". Mr McLennan said Walton's father David was very disappointed by his son's actions, which had caused a great deal of embarrassment and impacted on his business. The solicitor said his father had refunded the money taken from people on his round, but that he had not known about the £1000 card theft.

Walton's mother added that her son had been clean of heroin for two months. She said: "He's been on drugs for nearly 20 years, since he was at school. There's not a lot of people outside the family that know about it. "Now that he has been proven to be clear of drugs for two months I'm starting to, not to warm towards him, but accept him and learn to trust him a little bit more. "He's been in the gutter and this has been his wake-up call."

Window cleaner turns author: A transition from washing windows to author is most unusual, but Jamie Robison of Margaret River is not your usual window cleaner, and has made the literary jump. In 1994, Mr Robison decided to write a book after a tragic car accident involving a young boarder living with him. Seventeen years and 15 drafts later, Robison has completed the book. Titled Charlie’s Dream, the book is about a teenager stuck between real and imaginary worlds after a serious car accident puts him in a coma. “It was amazing to finally finish writing the book,” he said.

Although this was Robison’s first foray into the world of novel writing, he has been involved in the media before. Prior to moving to Margaret River, Robison owned a production company in Sydney which made shorts for TV. Along with his other duties, Robison would help out with scripts. After deciding to move to Margaret River over a decade ago, he has been cleaning windows for local businesses. “I’ve been doing window cleaning for about 10 years – through my work I know most of the people in Margaret River.”

Since completing his book, Robison now has the writing bug and plans to continue with other projects. “It is the first part of a trilogy. I’m currently halfway through writing the second part. “I love writing – it keeps me sane. I also just finished a book of short stories and a screenplay,” he said.

Billy's still in the running - MAUCHLINE runner Billy White is gearing up for his ninth Great Scottish Run - and he's looking for your help to make it his biggest, most successful year yet. The pensioner, who just turned 65, should be putting his feet up and enjoying his retirement. But he's still working as a window cleaner and putting in the miles as he embarks on his latest half-marathon charity run. Just last Saturday he ran 20 miles along the River Ayr to his hometown in preparation for his latest attempt.

Texas Rangers learn new signs at Southwest Airlines - Mitch Moreland needed some help marshaling an airplane into a jetway. He had no issues cleaning the pilot's windows on it, though. The Texas Rangers first baseman did both jobs as part of an event where players traded places with Southwest Airlines employees on Tuesday afternoon at Dallas Love Field. "Cleaning the windows is something I'm a little more capable of," Moreland said. "The window washing was a good job for me. Guiding the plane in is a little different. It's nice to know all the different hand signals now."

BATMAN, Turkey - Suicide, murder debated in Turkish deaths. Some women choose to attempt suicide a result of being victimized by their families, Batman Women Rights Commission head Hatice Yilmaz said. "There was a girl who was forced to wear a headscarf and her family withdrew her from school," a woman who asked to remain anonymous told the Women's Foundation Center. "According to reports, she fell from a window while cleaning it, but the doorman saw that she fell backward from the window." Women are battling stress and harassment and the situation was the same for every woman in Batman regardless of age, she said.

A university education should be about mind over money: The value of going to university was questioned in a recent Guardian Money article. Student journalist of the year Simon Murphy replies. My mum is still the only person from her immediate family to go to university, and few of my cousins have stayed in education after their GCSEs; they are now builders, decorators, labourers, plumbers, window cleaners, etc – the kind of jobs where you don't have to worry about feigning interest in post-feminist literature to fill a few lines on your Ucas form.

Fishy Stories... seems everyone wins top awards at Fish..

Jerry and Juice Jenson, owners of Fish Window Cleaning in Colorado Springs, received the Top Sales Award at the 11th annual Fish Window Cleaning Convention held in July in St. Louis. The Jensons were presented with their award for adding more than 500 new customers during 2010. Their business provides window cleaning services for commercial and residential customers in the greater Colorado Springs area.

Tony and Wendy Espeseth, owners and operators of Fish Window Cleaning in Stillwater and Eau Claire and Appleton, Wis., received more awards at the company's annual convention this year than any of the other 200 FISH franchisees. Last year, the Espeseths were named "Franchisee of the Year," and this year, the couple received five awards for their business. They were the Top Producer Award for leading the country in sales; Small Market Star Performer Award for their Eau Claire location and the Multi-Office Star Performer Award for the 2010 performance of the three offices they run. In addition, the Espeseths earned membership in the 500 Club for opening more than 500 new accounts during the past year and they received the Navigator Award in recognition of their work with prospective new franchisees. Tony and Wendy Espeseth, operators of Fish Window Cleaning in Stillwater and Eau Clarie and Appleton, Wis., took home five awards at the company's recent annual convention, more than any of the 200 other Fish franchises.

Fish Window Cleaning of Manchester received the Top Sales Award at the recent Fish Window Cleaning Convention in St. Louis. The award was presented to the franchise for adding more than 500 new customers during 2010. In addition, Rick Petry, sales manager for the franchise, was recognized as the top sales person among all Fish Window Cleaning franchises and received the Top Sales Person Award for 2010.