Window Cleaning News

3 days to go before Ungers event in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The police car was pursuing a car after the driver was seen without a seatbelt. He has now ruined two peoples lives, one a window cleaner.

Police car that crashed and injured members of public was travelling at over 70mph in 30mph zone - A policeman who crashed into two cars after driving through red lights while in pursuit of a driver not wearing a seatbelt was travelling at speeds of up to 73mph in a 30mph zone, a court heard. Pc Daniel Aimson, 31, who was based at Swinton Police Station and had received advanced driving training for his role as a traffic officer, appeared at Preston Crown Court for a trial after pleading not guilty to dangerous driving. The crash left the driver and passenger of a Ford Ka with injuries including a broken collar bone, damaged disc and a punctured bowel, the court heard.
On November 27, 2011, Pc Aimson noticed a driver was not wearing a seatbelt as he started his patrol driving along Spinning Jenny Way in Leigh and followed him in the direction of its junction with Lord Street South and Chapel Street. He pursued him through the lights, which had turned red, hitting the Ford Ka, which span and collided with a Citroen C3. Pc Aimson's patrol car then collided with another Ford Ka coming in the opposite direction, prosecution counsel Joe Boyd told the jury. The patrol car's internal data recorder showed his emergency lights were on but the siren was off, that Pc Aimson reached speeds of 73mph in a 30mph zone and that he started to brake too late to prevent the crash, Mr Boyd said.

He added: "It may well be that he forgot about the junction. In any event his driving was fraught with danger. His rationalisation that other drivers could see him was wishful thinking. "Mr Aimson – not deliberately, he is not a boy racer racing his mates – was trying to stop the red car, but that does not prevent him from obeying the law of the land. This was a very dangerous manoeuvre which caused significant injuries."
In interview, Pc Aimson said he believed the drivers at the junction had seen him coming. But Christine Ragab, who was driving the first Ford Ka that was hit, told the court: "When the lights went to green I pulled out and looked to the right and saw some lights blinding me. And that was it." She said she remembered waking up and Pc Aimson holding her hand. She and her passenger, Stephen Higson, had to be cut from the vehicle. Mr Higson, who is now unable to work as a window cleaner, was admitted to hospital with a ruptured bowel and broken collar bone, while Mrs Ragab suffered cuts, bruises, muscle damage to her leg and a damage to a disc in her back.
John Monaghan, who was walking along Spinning Jenny Way at the time of the accident, said he saw the red car speed past and then looked around to see the police car, before hearing the crash behind him. In a statement read out by defence counsel Mark Aldred, Mr Monaghan said he didn't think the police car stood a chance of catching the red car. The case continues.

Superman is seen outside of C.S. Mott Children's Hospital on Monday, June, 3, 2013

The Hulk, Superman, Spiderman, Captain American and Iron Man scale down the side of C.S. Mott Children's Hospital.

Sick kids at C.S. Mott get a superhero surprise - Patients at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital got a unique surprise Monday when superheroes appeared outside their windows. A team of five window washers donned Iron Man, Captain America, Spiderman, The Hulk and Superman costumes as they scrubbed the windows of the 12-story building in Ann Arbor. “We did it as a special treat to kids and their families,” said Mary Masson, senior public relations representative for the University of Michigan Health Systems. “They waved at the kids and posed for photos.” The hospital’s windows get cleaned four times a year. This is the first time the washers dressed up as superheroes.

Masson said the children were thrilled. The hospital has about 200 patients. “They waited with anticipation at the windows once they saw the ropes coming down,” she said. Masson said the window washing company asked the hospital to identify it publicly only as a University of Michigan contractor. “They wanted the focus to be on the kids, not the company,” she said.

Ecover relaunches the range of professional cleaning products with three new products, new and improved formulas and a fresh, new design of the packaging. The range has recently been awarded with the Cradle to Cradle Silver CertificationCM. The new range of cleaning products takes corporate social responsibility in the professional cleaning industry to a higher level. "With this range of powerful cleaners that are safe for people and the planet Ecover is ready for the future", says International B2B Manager Johan Tops.
Cradle to Cradle Silver CertifiedCM products
The result of the relaunch and renewal is a series of 6 Cradle Cradle Silver CertifiedCM products:

• Multi Spray: an ecological glass and window cleaner spray.
• Multi Daily: an ecological interior and floor cleaner for daily use.
• Multi Forte: a new ecological flooring and interior cleaner for regular use.
• San Daily: an ecological sanitary cleaner for everyday use with a mild acid formula for active lime removal.
• Swan Toilet Daily: an ecological toilet cleaner for daily use.
• Citop Zero: a concentrated detergent without perfume.

Cradle to Cradle Gold CertifiedCM packaging - The packaging of the Ecover professional rangehas been Cradle to Cradle Gold CertifiedCM. The Ecover packaging is made entirely from 'Plantastic'. This Polyethylene (PE) is a green plastic made from sugar cane instead of petroleum. It is 100% renewable, reusable and recyclable. The relaunch of the brand will be done gradually. The first products of the new generationwill be available from September 2013. The entire range will be renewed at the end of the year. About Ecover; Ecover was founded in Belgium in 1979 by a team motivated eco-pioneers, the first phosphate-free detergent developed. As soon as the brand took its way into food stores and supermarkets across Europe. In 2013, Ecover has 35 different products, which are sold in 40 countries worldwide.

Global majority faces water shortages 'within two generations' - Experts call on governments to start conserving water in face of climate change, pollution and over-use. The majority of the 9 billion people on Earth will live with severe pressure on fresh water within the space of two generations as climate change, pollution and over-use of resources take their toll, 500 scientists have warned. The world's water systems would soon reach a tipping point that "could trigger irreversible change with potentially catastrophic consequences", more than 500 water experts warned on Friday as they called on governments to start conserving the vital resource. They said it was wrong to see fresh water as an endlessly renewable resource because, in many cases, people are pumping out water from underground sources at such a rate that it will not be restored within several lifetimes.

But the scientists warned that the developed world would also suffer. For instance, there are now 210 million citizens of the US living within 10 miles of an "impaired" water source, and that number is likely to rise as the effects of global warming take hold. In Europe, some water sources are running dry because of over-extraction for irrigation, much of which is carried on in an unsustainable fashion. Pollutants are also causing severe problems in the rich world – the scientists highlighted the role of endocrine disruptors, which can cause fish to change gender, and the long-term effects of which on human populations are as yet barely known. "There is no citizen of the world who can be complacent about this," said Janos Bogardy, director of the UN University's Institute for Environment and Human Security.

“Dirt can reduce the energy output of solar modules by up to 20%." That is why Karcher has launched the iSolar, a new accessory for pressure washers designed for the thorough cleaning of solar panels,” explained Ulrich Engenhardt. “We launched this two weeks ago and we have already sold out of the first batch!” Not surprising perhaps, when you consider that Germany alone has 2.1 million solar panel installations.
Featuring rotary brushes with non-scratch nylon bristles and a lightweight telescopic lance that can extend up to 40 metres (typo), this accessory can clean up to 1,500 square metres of panel, quickly, efficiently and cost-effectively. There is a one-brush version for smaller surfaces and a two brush version for larger installations.
iSolar can be used with any Karcher professional pressure washer with a flow rate of at least 700 litres per hour. Water from the pressure washer in low-pressure mode makes the two brushes rotate in opposite directions, so they can be guided in straight runs without any effort. The lance is made of high-quality material (carbon or carbon composite) which makes it very light in weight and stable. The water flow can be switched on and off by means of a ball tap on the lance. All connections are made of brass and stainless steel to prevent corrosion.

Also part of the system and up for an award is the RM 99 low-alkali detergent designed specifically for solar modules. It cleans panels thoroughly and dries them after rinsing without leaving streaks so that fresh dirt takes longer to settle. Its gentle formula also ensures that it does not corrode the aluminium which is frequently used for the frames of solar panels. “In areas where there is lots of agriculture the panels become slimey so a chemical cleaner is needed,” it was explained. The slightly alkaline detergent (the pH value of the concentrate is 9) is biodegradable and can therefore quite safely be discharged into the drainage system. It is very economical: one litre of concentrate is enough to clean about 500 square metres, which saves money and benefits the environment.

The Winner's Brain - In The Winner’s Brian, Harvard-trained brain experts Dr Jeff Brown and Dr Mark Fenske explore the surprising science behind motivation, focus, and extraordinary achievement. Throughout the book, dozens of Winners from all walks of life tell their stories. Many are well known, others are artistes and inventors, business people, an FBI agent, a fighter pilot, even a high-altitude window washer. These interviews reveal how anyone can change their thinking to improve their life. It is fascinating, accessible, and compulsively readable.

Chris O’Dowd on being a Hollywood outsider - Chris O’Dowd features in issue 207 of Total Film magazine as part of our Future 100, a celebration of the most exciting stars, trends and movies heading your way. Inside the issue, you’ll get the lowdown on the most exciting happenings in movies, with O’Dowd more than earning his spot after jumping from much-loved TV actor to a regular member of Judd Apatow’s gang. On his Hollywood status, he told us: “I still feel a bit like an outsider.” “I think that if there’s a house that Judd Apatow built, I’m the window-cleaner looking in, masturbating. But I’m glad I’m being employed in some capacity!”

Bill Rogers the champion IPSC shooter, former FBI agent and founder of the Bill Roger’s Shooting School, is an innovator who has designed everything from buttstocks to holsters. You can also add cleaning systems to the list. The development of this system has been a work in progress for over five years. An inveterate tinkerer, he continues to improve the technology. The Rogers Bore Squeege-E kit comes in a clear plastic case about the size of those toiletries bags they used to give away on airplanes. It’s packed with a full complement of brushes and squeegees that will fit most every caliber and an instruction manual with tiny print. Instead of the usual series of cotton patches used to clean out the resulting gunk, he employs a polymer squeegee that is run through the bore just once. His rationale in employing squeegees? He told me he once observed while cleaning a dirty window that a great deal of the residue was spread around instead of ending up on the paper towel. A squeegee was much more efficient. He figured it would work on a gun barrel too.

Increasing value - Today's catch phrase is "value-added," but the principle is well-aged and battle-tested. It's the philosophy that made American businesses great; the mindset of delivering more than was promised or faster than was expected. Creative value-adds are much more meaningful than generous ones. Why is my partner buying my product or service? What can I do to make the experience more pleasant? Give some consideration to what's driving the other guy, and spend just a little bit of time figuring out a way to make things easier or better for him. Jim Wagner is co-founder and chief operating officer of Connected Contractors and managing partner of the Estate Window Cleaning Co. The purpose of "Getting Connected," which will appear occasionally, is to help businesses and customers work together more effectively.

Good customer care can be defined as delivering a quality product or service in a timely manner under the conditions agreed to by the parties involved. Great customer service is doing exactly that, but in a spirit of cooperation or partnership. Most businesses operate with a client/vendor mentality, without ever realizing just how close they are to converting customers to partners. Assuming that there's some structured sales process that would include advertising, marketing and some sort of warranty or contract, the amount of effort required to add a new client or a partner is about the same. But the difference is night and day. Partners become long-term, year-over-year opportunities. They withstand competitive pressure. They build your brand awareness within their circle of influence. They're your company's insight to your marketplace. Listening to your partners keeps you relevant. Working in partnership helps you grow. The ultimate goal is for your clients to be living, breathing representatives of your brand. That is the highest form of a client partnership.

‘Sexist’ Swiffer Ad Generates Uproar For Putting This Feminist Icon ‘Back In The Kitchen’-  Critics of a new Swiffer ad accuse the household product line of attempting to put feminist icon Rosie the Riveter “back in the kitchen” by reappropriating her can-do individualistic image as one of enforcing old “sexist” stereotypes about cleaning being a woman’s job. The new image for Swiffer’s Bissel Steam Boost features a redone version of the classic Westinghouse 1943 “We Can Do It!” poster, which later became a powerful icon of female empowerment and the feminist movement.

In this 21st century version, instead of Rosie showing her muscle presumably in a machine factory, she is holding up the Swiffer product: The ad first generated controversy when one Twitter user snapped a photo of what appeared in her Sunday newspaper inserts, with her own caption added: “We can do it! Because cleaning kitchens is a woman’s work. #swiffer #sexist”. BoingBoing editor Jason Weisberger reacted with a harsh assessment: “[C]lear tribute to an important historical image done in such a way as to piss on its legacy.”

Cheap thrills: window washing - Between teaching an art residency out of town last month and prepping my studio for ArtCamps this month, there's been no time for any measurable lightening up projects. Instead I tackled another repeating chore, one I always put off then realize: "Such a cheap thrill - why can't I do this more often?" I overheard this housekeeping gem once: "If the floors and windows are clean, you can usually fool everyone about the rest." It's true.

Ulverston firm tells of hopes for future - A cleaning company a young couple set up from scratch has grown to employ almost 20 people in five years – and has big ambitions for the future. SP Services had only four members of staff 12 months ago, but has rapidly expanded to employ 19 from its base in Ulverston Business Centre. James and Kelly Hall first established the firm from their Barrow home in Cavendish Street. At that time, the business focused on cleaning cars and windows.

But the starting point for expansion arrived when the firm was invited to help a large cleaning firm when MFI re-opened in Barrow after it was gutted in a fire in 2006. That partnership secured SP cleaning work across the UK and provided a foundation to secure contracts locally. The business now works in commercial cleaning, window cleaning and has recently branched out to offer carpet cleaning. It has contracts as far north as Carlisle and as far south as Lancaster, but its core area is Barrow and Ulverston.

Mr Hall, 27, who served in the infantry with the Duke of Lancaster’s Regiment for six years from the age of 16, said the growth had been down to hard work. Mr Hall, who is originally from York, added: “We’ve just been gradually getting on with it and making sure we do things properly. If we didn’t do things properly, we wouldn’t be here doing it now.

“It’s definitely not easy. People think you’ve got it easy, but far from it. “It can be a bit stressful running a business because where people can tend to shrug things off and not worry about it, we can’t afford to do that. “I still go out and do work because we’re not at the point yet where we can pay somebody to go out and carpet clean.”

But in the longer-term, the couple have their sights set on developing further contracts outside Cumbria. Mr Hall said: “Before we move from this area, we need to establish a lot more work and a lot more profits to be able to grow the business elsewhere. But that’s what we want to do. “There’s a lot more business in cities, but to branch into that at the moment would be too much of a risk. We’ve had phone calls from Sheffield for work but we can’t commit to it at the moment. “But that’s where we see ourselves, branching out into different parts of the country. And there might be a possibility in the future for us to consider franchising.”

Crews Use Helicopter To Lift Window-Washing Equipment Up To BOK Tower (Tulsa, Oklahoma) - You may have noticed a large helicopter hovering over downtown Sunday morning. Crews took to the sky for several hours, all to replace the window washing equipment on top of the 52-story BOK Tower. The Sikorsky S-58t helicopter is capable of lifting loads up to 4,500 lbs. Access to some areas, including parking lots around the BOK Tower, was restricted while they worked. The chopper went back and forth downtown from around 8 a.m. to 11 a.m.

Stuart Elliott was a window cleaner when he played for Glentoran but it soon became clear that his career would go in a different direction as he raced down the left wing at the Oval, scoring spectacular goals galore. Three years after making his debut for the Glens, in 2000 he moved to Motherwell where he became a Fir Park favourite and then transferred to Hull City, playing almost 200 games netting 65 times. It was at that stage that Elliott became a fixture in the Northern Ireland side earning himself 36 caps including his most treasured against England in that famous 2005 success.

A Lenovo laptop computer worth $1,000 was taken from Skowron Eye Care, 370 N. York, at around 12:30 p.m. May 30. A witness said a man with short black hair, about 6 feet tall, 300 pounds, who was missing his bottom teeth, was soliciting for window washing services in the business. He then requested to make a doctor appointment. The witness said he then walked into the area where the laptop was and quickly left the business. No one saw him walk out with the laptop, but they said his behavior was suspicious.

Jury sent out in trial of Mandy Mary Walters, 45, of Mostyn Avenue, Carmarthen, accused of theft: A Jury will today continue its deliberations in the trial of a single mother accused of stealing from the shop she worked at in Carmarthen. Mandy Mary Walters, 45, of Mostyn Avenue, has denied eleven counts of theft from Signature store, Nott Square, between March and April last year. She admitted that she had taken money from the till, but said this was owed to her for extra shifts. She said she would also use till money to pay other staff, window cleaners and seamstresses, as well as using funds for day-to-day costs.

At Carmarthen Crown Court yesterday, jurors heard from expert witness David Peter Alexander, a chartered accountant who was appearing for the defence case. He told the court that despite claims from store owner, Helen Jones, that there had been a deficit of cash in the till on April 4, there was in fact a surplus of £70.51. He added that on days where Walters wasn't listed as working in the diary, he found a deficit in the accounts.

Last month, Grimsby’s East Marsh was ranked sixth in a national league table of “welfare ghettoes”. According to a report by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), 51 per cent of people of working age (16 to 64) in the ward are claiming out-of-work benefits.

Walking further up the street, close to the Post Office, is 42-year-old Barry Newbold, of Comber Place. Asked what he thinks of his neighbourhood being labelled a "benefit ghetto", he says: "I don't think that's a fair reflection." An epilepsy sufferer who lost his last job at a sandwich factory when a seizure resulted in him falling onto the production line, he becomes visibly upset, almost tearful, when describing the reaction that he gets when he tells people he is on benefits. "People just look at you differently, and wonder why you don't go out and get a job, but when you have got epilepsy, a lot of employers don't want to take a risk. "I suppose there are some people who don't want to work, and if you have been on benefits for a long time it might become a habit. "I would love to get a job. It's just finding an employer that will take me on."

Barry, who was working as a window cleaner when he first started having seizures in 2006, says he has also felt the impact of the Government's "clampdown" on benefits. He was receiving Disability Living Allowance until two years ago when he went to see a doctor for a check-up. "He turned round and said that because I could stand up and turn round in a chair they were stopping my disability allowance." Because of that, Barry lost £250 of his monthly income. Now he gets by on his fortnightly Job Seeker's Allowance of £180. He says that if he wasn't staying at his mum's house, making ends meet would be a real struggle.

TV review: "Skint" - Modern life is rubbish: smack-heads and shoplifters, window cleaners and prostitutes, money lenders and car park casinos. The mean streets of Scunthorpe, featured in Channel 4’s Skint, were a modern day Dante’s Inferno. 

The devastating effects of this drug use are everywhere. Young mother Emma used to have a drug problem, and is now resigned to taking the prescribed heroin substitute methadone for the rest of her life. Her boyfriend Pete, meanwhile, the estate window cleaner, is a heavy drinker who is not allowed to look after the couple’s young son, Ty, after an incident where he was drunk in charge of a minor. Even those young men on the estate without drink or drug problems struggle to motivate themselves to do anything at all.

Soap Comparison Video

John in Germany touts the merits of Ecover washing up liquid which has now developed in to even adding to your WFP tank on many forums as an option even though it gives a high tds. It could be a fad, but early results look promising.

Is this the future of cleaning? New Window Cleaning Soap?

Ecover has developed the world's first ‘eco surfactant' - the beating heart of a cleaning product - that it claims is 'more ecological and powerful' than their old formulations... The mantra of 'green' cleaning has always been to use plant-based and mineral products instead of petrochemical ones.
As well as cutting down on harmful chemicals in our homes, 'eco' products cut down on chemicals in our water systems that can be highly toxic to fish, frogs and other aquatic animals. That said, even plant-based formulations have an environmental impact. They require water to neutralise their impact on the water supply, energy for the manufacturing process and transport for their raw ingredients. In other words, there is always room for improvement in the world of green cleaning.

Last month Ecover took an important step in the right direction. The company announced it had succeeded in developing the world's first 'eco surfactant' using an energy-efficient and entirely biochemical procedure powered by yeast - similar to the process of brewing beer. But first, a word on surfactants Surfactants are the active ingredient in the majority of household cleaners. They can be produced from either petrochemical substances or plant-based alternatives. The first benefit of plant-based alternatives is biodegradability. Petrochemical surfactants do not biodegrade completely and so leave behind particles that accumulate in watercourses. They may also be absorbed into soil, in both cases increasing the risk of environmental damage and hindering the use of sewage sludge as an organic fertiliser.

Dirk Develter, research and development manager at Ecover describes it as similar to the rubbish left in space from space missions - the rockets break up and just leave the bits floating around. Plant-based surfactants on the other hand biodegrade quickly and completely, leaving behind no traces in the environment. The second benefit of using plant-based over petrochemical surfactants is that they are from renewable sources rather than from petrochemicals which rely upon fossil resources. Ecover has always used plant-based alternatives for the bulk of their ingredients. However, until now, plant-based surfactants have been manufactured using the same energy intensive process as petrochemical ones.

After seven years of research Ecover's scientists have invented a new energy efficient process to produce surfactants naturally. Their new surfactant is produced from a ‘sophorolipid' - completely natural compounds created through the action of yeast. The idea of this is nothing new - in the 1960s scientists discovered yeast in a bumblebee nest that had the unique characteristic of creating a kind of surfactant from a combination of glucose (sugar) and oil (a fatty acid) - but the application of it on this scale certainly is. At first, Ecover scientists started production in a test-tube. Now they use a special 10,000 litre ‘bioreactor' in Slovakia, a machine which provides the perfect breeding ground for yeast cells. This in turn enables them to harness yeast's unique ability to combine water-soluble sugars and non-soluble oils to produce the new surfactant.

Develter says the company's new range of products containing its eco surfactant are 'more ecological' than their old formulations for the following reasons:
• They are made using natural, readily available, sustainable raw ingredients - vegetable oil, yeast and sugar.
• The raw ingredients are sourced in Europe, whereas previous plant-based surfactants had to be sourced from Asia so they require less transport miles.
• The energy required in the production process is even lower than before
• The products have full biodegradability and lower aquatic toxicity than before.

The new formulations are kinder to human skin too. As well as only containing plant-based ingredients and fragrances, the range is pH neutral - so no rubber gloves necessary. What about performance? ‘Our new formulations are much more powerful our old formulations,' says Develter. Tests conducted by Ecover and an independent body for the hard surface cleaning range showed that the range outperformed most, if not all brands in effectiveness, and all scored highly in areas such as ease of use, fragrance and drying time.

So what are the downsides? According to Develter, whilst eco surfactants are suited as low-foaming surfactants in hard surface cleaning and automatic dishwashers, they are not suitable for high foaming applications such as manual dishwashing. Experiments with solubility, foaming powder and stability are, however, in full swing so that the eco surfactants can be used in laundry and dishwashing detergents.

What's the catch?
One issue for Ecover is price. The eco surfactants are almost ten times more expensive than the cheapest petrochemical-based surfactants around. ‘Yet because of their superior performance this difference is largely levelled out' says Develter. However, in the long term the company hopes to use and produce larger amounts at a cheaper price. At the moment Ecover can only make enough to cover their own brand's needs and they have patented production. 'We are at the beginning of a long journey with this and in the future if others see eco surfactants working they may be interested too,' says Develter. 'This may allow us to work with others and up-scale production to another level.' There may be no such thing as a 100 per cent ecological cleaning product, but Ecover's eco surfactants are an important step in the right direction. The surfactant bar has been raised - are the cleaning giants nimble enough to follow?


• Ecover Window & Glass Cleaner - RRP £2.69 (500ml) - this brand new product can be used on windows, mirrors, glass and chrome. Up against Mr Muscle Window Cleaner, it took victory on performance and finish, and was described as ‘efficient', ‘very effective' and ‘easy to use' in consumer research.
What's more, because Ecover only uses sustainable plant-based and mineral ingredients, you don't have to worry about leaving behind residues of nasty (and unnecessary) chemicals when you clean. And thanks to its pH neutral formula, it won't irritate skin like some other products can - so feel free to forget the rubber gloves. I've heard the dish-washing soap is also great for cleaning windows.

Tallest Cherry Picker & Other Window Cleaning News

Bradford firm on the up: A specialist window-cleaners is extending its reach after taking delivery of the UK’s tallest cherry-picker. Bosses at Blade Access, in Bowling Back Lane, West Bowling, Bradford, will use the £600,000, 230ft Wumag access platform for “extreme window cleaning”. It will scale tall buildings across West Yorkshire. And it will enable work to be carried out in the environmental technology sector. Jamie Bairstow, 29, who co-founded the company six years ago with Mark Bell, bought the cherry-picker from Sky King, a specialist company in Leicestershire. Mr Bairstow said: “When we originally formed the window-cleaning business, we had to hire out platforms. Then we got a fire engine platform and now we’ve got the biggest cherry-picker in the UK. It looks like we’re going up in the world!” Pictured: From the left, co-founder Mark Bell, area sales manager Martin Cowley and co-founder Jamie Bairstow.

Tired of hearing people passively ask what's being done about downtown's vacant storefronts, a small group of volunteers has taken it upon themselves to bring curb appeal to the area's commercial real estate. This summer, the dark and dusty store windows that dot Center Street and Merchants Row will be replaced with colorful cloth backdrops, furniture and theater prop displays, unconventional art and more than a few flocks of paper cranes. "We're a small group of volunteers who are just very interested in seeing the beauty of Rutland shine through," said Carol Tashie, of the group City SEEDs — formerly known as Farm to City — which promotes socially engaged economic development.
"We thought we could take advantage of the fact that those windows offer a frame for getting people to locate their businesses downtown," she said. With the permission of the property owners, all of whom have been receptive to the idea, City SEEDs has already spruced up three window fronts, including the former Army Navy store on Center Street and the old Book King on Merchants Row, and hopes to have all decorated by early August, said Steve Eddy, another member of the group. Eddy is the former owner of Book King, but doesn't own the now-vacant space he formerly occupied.

Wow is owned and operated by Andrew Kidd, whose slogan is: “Windows that make you say, ‘WOW!’” He makes the world say Wow! in Burien, Normandy Park and Seattle. We don’t know for sure, but our research reveals that back in school Andrew’s nickname was “Streak Free.”
Do you run a business? Well, if you do, Andrew is announcing a $30 “Special for Businesses” which includes two windows and a door, cleaned inside and outside, for just $30. Wow! And for homeowners, be prepared – it’ll be like your windows changing from analog to High Def. Throwing a party for the 4th? The last thing on your To Do list is always washing the windows. “Allow us to do it for you,” Andrew says. “And call me about Senior Discounts.” A new view courtesy Andrew and his crew, who like to say: “Give us a call. We’ll come see you so your customers can too!” Oh, we were just kidding about the “Streak Free” nickname, but Andrew really is a lifelong Burien resident. He loves it here. Wow window washing.

Racing legend Sir Jackie Stewart received a special 70th birthday present yesterday - the freedom of his childhood home. And when he visitied his former schools in Dumbarton, he opened his heart on his battle with dyslexia. At Dumbarton Academy, he told fellow dyslexia sufferer and Formula One fan Harry Watters, 14, he could "be the next Lewis Hamilton". "Einstein was dyslexic and if I hadn't won three world championships, I would be the world's best window cleaner - seriously.

Ecover, the world-leading pioneers of ecological cleaning are packing their most powerful punch yet with a brand new range of hard surface cleaning products that put their competitors to shame. While they’re even tougher than petrochemical products on household grime, they’re brilliantly gentle on both the environment and your skin.
Guaranteed to leave your home sparkling clean, this hard-working range harnesses the power of nature through pioneering ingredients called Eco-Surfactants1. Developed exclusively by Ecover’s ecological innovators, these new ingredients mean the new range is proven to clean as well as – or better than - the UK’s leading conventional brands2.
The range consists of two new products: Ecover Power Cleaner and Ecover Window & Glass Cleaner; as well as two new formulations of household favourites, Ecover All Purpose Cleaner (previously known as Ecover Multi-Surface Cleaner) and Ecover Multi Surface Spray Cleaner (previously known as SquirtEco).
Ecover Window & Glass Cleaner – RRP £2.69 (500ml) - this brand new product can be used on windows, mirrors, glass and chrome. Up against Mr Muscle Window Cleaner, it took victory on performance and finish, and was described as ‘efficient’, ‘very effective’ and ‘easy to use’ in consumer research.

Travellers leave dangerous rubbish in their wake: A Shefford Woodlands man has been left with skips full of rubbish, including piles of asbestos, after travellers set up home in his field. Charles Byam-Cook, who lives at Oakhanger Park, said that more than a dozen caravans and camper vans had converged on his property after cutting a hole in a fence. Mr Byam-Cook said that they spent more than a week on his land before finally moving on of their own accord, on Sunday, June 14. However, he has now been left with a huge clean-up operation after discovering that they had left heaps of debris. “I have had to get two skips to clear it all and one especially for all the asbestos,” said Mr Byam-Cook. “There were empty bottles, beer cans, household rubbish and old gas cylinders – but what was more tiresome was all the other rubbish they left.” Mr Byam-Cook said that this included old doors and window frames and wood with nails sticking out of it. He added that among the rubbish left he had also found two boxes of flyers, offering cleaning and roofing services.

Top 10 Michael Jackson moments: Number 3. Bubbles
Bubbles was Jackson's favourite pet chimpanzee whilst he lived at the Neverland ranch. In out-takes from Martin Bashir's documentary, Bubbles is said to have used Jackson's private toilet and completed basic household duties such as dusting and window cleaning aided by other chimpanzees. It was rumoured that Bubbles was banned from the Neverland premises having punched Jackson in the face. A statue of Bubbles and Jackson can be found at the Alstrup Fearney Museum of Contemporary Art in Oslo Norway, having been purchased for $5.6 million by an ananymous buyer in New York in 1991.

Powerful software to make your cleaning business more efficient. Now you can easily record and view info on every cleaning job you have done: floor care, carpet care, self-employment, window washing, custodial training and many other areas related to the cleaning industry. You can use the scheduler to find the best fit by viewing dates, times and distance of other scheduled services to set an appointment for a customer. Each customer's history is stored and conveniently displayed on the customers main screen for ease of look up. This historical recount is complete and permanently stored with each customer for quick reference. It's perfect for workers to plan working hours so that the orders do not overlap with someone else and keep track of scheduled appointments. It'll store the information about clients, such as their address, telephone, email and comments. This modern and extremely handy program makes management a real pleasure. You can view the information about payments, daily income for any day at any moment when you need it. For those people, who work in Microsoft Outlook, it's possible to export data. Export of data is available to different formats: XLS, TXT, HTML, XML for its adaptation for other programs. In case of crashes or virus attacks, there is an auto backup function with a possibility to remove old archives automatically.

Newspapers tell window cleaners what to charge! If you hire a window washing service, the charge to wash 12 double-hung windows from the inside and exterior of a house will be $156. You can do the job for $16, the cost of the materials, and save a whopping 90 percent for your effort. Those materials include cleaning solution and a window squeegee and scrubber. You also need a stepladder, bucket and lint-free clean rags for washing and drying. Washing windows is a good two-person job that goes quickly when one worker cleans the exterior while the other cleans the inside.
Washing windows is a no-brainer if you have a single-story house. However, the job gets dicey if you have a two-story house. Unless you already have an extension ladder, consider washing the first-floor windows and hiring a service to wash the ones upstairs. You'll get the best results if you wash windows on a cloudy day because sunlight dries the glass quickly, which causes streaking. Pro cost: $156 - DIY cost: $16 - Pro time: 1.8 hrs, DIY time: 3.3 hrs, DIY savings: $140 - Percent saved: 90 Percent.

Couple celebrate 70 years of marriage: It's an anniversary which most people struggle to reach... 70 years of marriage. But for Bill Mitton, 99, and his wife Doris, 91, it was yet another extraordinary milestone in their extraordinary lives. The happy couple tied the knot three months before the outbreak of the Second World War, on June 24, 1939. And for the past 64 years, they have lived in the same house in Whitehall, where their family grew up. At the bungalow in Wineberry Close the pair celebrated their platinum wedding anniversary, surrounded by five generations of their family. Bill worked as a fireman during the war and then as a window cleaner for many years before going on to work for Crittall Windows in Brislington, until he retired at 65.

Angry leaseholders accuse Lambeth of "plucking figures out of the air" after service charges soar: Homeowners have accused Lambeth’s housing manager of giving them inflated bills for service contracts that do not exist in order to plug a financial black hole. Last week estimated service charge bills for 2009/10 dropped through the letterboxes of thousands of Lambeth Council properties leaseholders. In many cases, estimated charges for services such as heating and hot water more than doubled, adding hundreds of pounds to residents’ yearly bills. Other services - such as communal block cleaning costs and window-cleaning - have also rocketed. Leaseholder representatives say this is wrong as contracts for services on some estates have not been decided. One Herne Hill resident reported a jump in block cleaning costs from £35 in 2008/9 to an estimated £650 this year on his yearly bill.