Window Cleaning News Revisited

John Lockwood knows who’s who and what’s what in the hood.

Keeping it real with some old friends: John Lockwood is a neighborhood character who I have known and photographed many times over the years. Anyone who has spent any time on Avenue A is familiar with John. He makes his living washing windows. He owns and runs his own company, Rose Window & Awning Cleaning. John is getting to be one of the last of the old school, independent, go-to street guys who knows who is who, and what is what, as far as the goings-on in the hood. That said, he is not a gossip, but if there is a need to know, good chance John can give an insider’s tip. John earns his money, is hard-working, honest and a stand-up guy. Remember this Harlem Window Cleaner who turned his life around?

Groupon under fire in Germany over bad deals: Groupon recently launched in Austria from America but in Germany the company has been panned. A German man and his family made the first complaint when he bought a Groupon voucher online for the "Great China" restaurant in Hamburg. The man named as Marc W., 21, paid 147.60 Euro instead of 200 for the voucher but as it turned out the restaurant does not except any vouchers. Since then Marc is trying to contact Groupon to get his money back but said he had had no reaction since then.

Another woman Katrin Wege (44), the owner of the "Blaue Blume", lost about 10,000 due a Groupon deal. The offer for her restaurant in Hamburg was supposed to be online for 24 hours but actually was available for 48 hours, she said. Some 700 vouchers were sold for 14,50 each with an original value of 30 Euro. Groupon keeps about half of the price for themselves with the rest going to the firm. Martin Harneit, pictured (33) who owns a window-cleaning service and was hoping for some advertising through Groupon also suffered, with a similar story to Katrin Wege. Groupon also sold more vouchers than he agreed on, and still owes him 800 Euro. Now, the small business of his is under threat of being bankrupt if they do not get the money back. Similar blogs here & here.

The Salary poll:  The results of the Sunday Province's poll on managerial and executive wages are in. More than 1,000 of you voted on whether 20 different Lower Mainland salaries were too high or too low. Unsurprisingly, the overwhelming response for nearly every job was "too high." Only highrise window washers, teachers and the manager of Stanley Park were seen as underpaid by the public, according to the online survey. One surprise was the mayor of Vancouver - the voting was split 50/50. $31,200 Highrise window washer -

 96% said UNDERPAID & said 4% OVERPAID 

"Are you kidding me? I make decent money but you couldn't pay me enough to do that job. Maybe not skilled labour, but how dangerous is that? Without these guys, the CEOs would not have a beautiful corner office view." - Brian Z., Agassi. Another blog on window cleaners salary here & here.

Don't moralise on tax, Gauke: Oh dear! David Gauke has made himself look a right wally by telling the British public that paying people cash-in-hand is 'morally wrong'. Last week exchequer secretary to the Treasury Gauke lambasted members of the British public who pay cash to tradesmen, cleaners, window cleaners and anyone else who may ask for cash payment. He trilled that cash-in-hand payments have left a £2 billion black hole in the economy and proceeded to judge the moral standing of those that pay cash – but what he failed to add is that paying someone cash is perfectly legal.

You can pay everyone in cash if you wish, it's up to the person you pay cash to, to declare their income, including the cash payments. It's not up to any customer to ensure the person or company they purchase an item or service from is paying the correct amount of tax.

What Gauke seemed to want to say, but couldn't, is that he thinks tradesmen and others who rely on cash are dodging tax and he doesn't like it. This is all a bit rich from the man who used to make a living out of helping the wealthy avoid tax. Gauke was a solicitor at Macfarlanes, a company which specialises in tax structuring – which translates as helping rich people pay less tax. Research last year showed tax avoidance costs the UK economy £69.9 billion a year, putting the £2 billion lost to cash-in-hand operations into perspective. Gauke looks like a fool. While he judges those who pay labourers and cleaners, people who are typically on low wages and may be struggling hard to pay bills and find enough work, his own governmental department, the Treasury, strikes deals to allow companies to escape millions of pounds of tax. Original blog here.

Bungling burglar jailed after being recognised by unique tattoo: A man’s distinctive neck tattoo helped police identify him as a bungling burglar who pretended to be a window cleaner and hooked a handbag inside a house with his broom. Neil Simpson (24), of Francis Gardens, Peterborough, had asked a woman if she wanted to have her windows cleaned on June 15. Later that day, the woman saw him feed a broom through her window and try to steal her handbag by hooking it with the stick. The would-be-burglar was caught in the act by the homeowner, and fled the property empty-handed. She called the police and told them of the distinctive tattoo on his neck, which was a large black symbol.

Simpson was then arrested for another matter the following day, and was immediately linked to the burglary when officers saw a large black tattoo on his neck. He pleaded guilty to burglary and six other break-ins across New England and Dogsthorpe at Peterborough Crown Court on Monday, July 23. Simpson has been sentenced to two years in prison. Detective Constable Tom Rowe said: “Simpson was a serial burglar and we are committed to ensure we catch those responsible for such offences. “I hope this sends out a strong message to others that we will bring offenders to justice.” Also see here: UK Window Cleaner Filmed Stealing Credit Card.

Window Cleaning News

A man cleans windows in Changsha, Hunan Province, China, on Sunday, June 24, 2012. The boom in Changsha and other inland cities is cushioning China and the world at a time when global growth is slowing, and may help relieve the damping effects of the debt crisis in Europe, China's largest export market. Click picture to enlarge.

Indonesian Maid Falls to Her Death From 14th-Floor Flat: (Singapore). Another maid has fallen. This time, it was an Indonesian maid who fell 14 floors from a HDB flat at Block 63, Marine Drive on Wednesday morning. The maid, Ami, who has only one name, was 32 years old and had arrived from West Java early this month. Paramedics pronounced her dead at the scene. Since the start of the year, there have been nine cases of foreign maids who died after falling from heights while working. Investigations are ongoing for the latest incident, as well as for the death of a Myanmarese maid who fell earlier this month, said a Ministry of Manpower spokesman. Police have classified Wednesday's case as unnatural death. The spate of incidents prompted the Singaporean government to impose stricter rules about maids' working conditions last month.

The new rules require an adult to supervise maids as they clean the exterior of windows. Window grilles must also be installed and locked during the cleaning. Police declined to comment when asked how the maid fell, but Sukmo Yuwono, an Indonesian embassy counsellor, said the flat's kitchen window and grilles were open when police arrived at the scene. A stool was also found under the window, he added. Neighbors told The Straits Times they were shocked to hear a loud thump at around 7 a.m. An eighth-floor neighbor said, "I looked out the window and saw the body... I couldn't move my legs for five minutes." Ami's employers - a young Chinese family - declined comment when approached at home.

Shawn, 28, is also the owner and manager at College Pro Window Cleaning in Courtenay, but had put his work aside to focus on Emily.

Married life cut short as cancer claims Emily: Just 11 days after their wedding, local man Shawn Wood has been forced to say goodbye to his new bride. Emily Ann Wood, nee Niinemets, has succumbed to the terminal Large Cell Lymphoma with which she was diagnosed only in January. After noticing lumps in her neck, Emily tried every available treatment, but doctors quickly realized there was nothing they could do and Emily was given three to 12 months to live. At age 24, she said her dying wish was to marry her fiancé. Emily and Shawn’s wedding took place in Courtenay on Tuesday 3 July, thanks to hundreds of monetary and in-kind donations.

Everything from the limousine to the jewellery was given to the couple, free of charge, while a total of $12,191 was donated via their fundraising website. “I do not know either one of you but was touched by your story that aired on the news,” wrote Katheleen Stubbs, on Shawn’s Facebook page. “Think not of this as a time of sorrow but as a time of celebration: no more suffering. She lived a beautiful life and touched many hearts!” Shawn’s page has been flooded with messages of condolence. “I need you to know that you did your best. You fulfilled a heart, you fulfilled a life, most of all you fulfilled a love,” wrote Tanya Winters. “You did everything possible a loving man and husband could do, Shawn, and for that you are the hero.”

The couple were booked to go on a free cruise to Alaska on July 29, for their honeymoon, but Emily weakened suddenly after the wedding, suffering worse pain, swelling and deteriorating eyesight. On Saturday, 14 July, Emily had to be admitted to hospital, unable to walk and having difficulty breathing. “It's really heartbreaking,” Shawn wrote on his Facebook page. “Why can't I just take this from her? Would lay on my sword any day for her. I just wish that I could do something other than watch her slip away from me!”

Just hours later, Emily was gone. Shawn, 28, is a business student in his third year. He’s also the owner and manager at College Pro Window Cleaning in Courtenay, but has put his work aside to focus on Emily. A fundraiser has been organized for Friday, 17 August, at the Mex Pub, featuring live music and a raffle. Admission is $5 and doors open at 8 p.m. Further funds are being raised via T-shirts, available for $20 at 479 4th Street in Courtenay. Reading ‘Love for Emily,’ the shirts also feature a lime green ribbon – the symbol for lymphoma awareness.

Safety failings led to asbestos exposure at Dorset school: The unsafe removal of asbestos insulation boards at a large independent school in Dorset led to several people being exposed to asbestos fibres, Dorchester Crown Court heard today (13 July). The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) prosecuted Sherborne School and Peter Eldridge, the director of a company responsible for the refurbishment project, after an investigation found they had failed to identify and prevent the risk of asbestos exposure at the school. Asbestos insulation boards were removed in an unsafe way, exposing building contractors and a teenage work experience student to asbestos fibres, and leaving them at risk of developing serious and potentially fatal diseases later in life. The HSE investigation found that from the initial design stages in May 2008 right through to undertaking the construction work in July 2009, there was inadequate planning and a failure to carry out a full asbestos survey. This was despite the fact that a sample taken from the building in 2008 had identified its presence and asbestos had previously been removed from other parts of the school. An asbestos register was also kept for the school buildings.

Regulation 11(3) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 states: "Every designer shall in preparing or modifying a design which may be used in construction work in Great Britain avoid foreseeable risks to the health and safety of any person: (a) carrying out construction work; (b) liable to be affected by such construction work; (c) cleaning any window or any transparent or translucent wall, ceiling or roof in or on a structure; (d) maintaining the permanent fixtures and fittings of a structure; or (e) using a structure designed as a workplace. Exposure to asbestos fibres is the single greatest cause of work-related deaths in the UK; it is responsible for around 4,000 deaths a year. For more information on asbestos.

A group of Tory MPs has said that some small limited companies should be freed from stringent employment regulations. The Free Enterprise Group (FEG) has put forward seven proposals which it feels will help to give UK businesses a shot in the arm. One of the ideas is for small firms with turnovers of less than £75,000 a year (the threshold for VAT registration) to become exempt from employment laws. A paper published by the group states:"Private sector growth is the best way to rebuild our economy. So let’s get government out of the way of budding entrepreneurs. "Whether in website design, weeding gardens, window cleaning or widget production, we’ve got to help our smallest businesses to get started and thrive. The government should remove the regulatory burden." The plans would include such limited companies not having to auto-enrol anyone they employ into pension schemes as well as not having to offer people pay for paternity and maternity leave.

Wales coach Warren Gatland suffers serious injuries in fall: Gatland suffered his injuries while cleaning windows ahead of a visit to the family beach-side holiday home by a journalist, who was going to feature the property in a magazine. He broke both heels after falling some three metres on to concrete, sustaining multiple fractures to his right heel. “It was one of those freak things,” he recalled. “I was at the beach on the deck and climbed up on the rail to clean some windows and lost my balance and fell backwards on to the concrete by the garage. “I fell about three metres and landed on my heels. “I’ve had a lot of stick about that. I think Alan Phillips has had a bit of stick as well because he was a window cleaner in a previous life and people have been telling him he didn’t train me well enough!” It was no laughing matter for Gatland at the time though, with his painful injuries leaving him facing a lengthy recuperation period.

The UAE's best window cleaners compete: The daredevil maintenance men who can be seen on the end of ropes cleaning windows on landmarks such as the Burj Khalifa and the Burj Al Arab demonstrated their skills in the first Middle East Rope Access Olympics.

Rope access experts from Megarme walk across a high tensile net, 228m above the ground at Abu Dhabi Gate Towers construction site on Reem Island.

World first for Abu Dhabi workers who walk on air - 228 metres above ground: Workmen at a skyscaper development in the capital are walking on sunshine thanks to an innovative net system that allows them to saunter between towers without ropes or scaffolding - 228 metres above ground.  The 1,800m net has been strung across a 30m gap between two of the towers that make up The Gate Towers development, making it the largest and highest installation of its kind. "There's no office like it," said project manager Mickey Schram, one of the skywalkers who spends every working day on the net, which is accessed from the 64th floor. "I do get scared; if you don't then one becomes complacent. You need to have that fear in you, if you don't then there's a problem."

The net, made of a polyester cord mesh, is supported by steel cables anchored to the structure of the buildings. And, while conventional wisdom says you can avoid vertigo by not looking down, Mr Schram disagrees. "I think you need to look down, because it gives you a sense of respect for the system you're dealing with and heightens your awareness of safety," he added. "So absolutely, I look down." Mr Schram said he enjoyed a number of aspects of the job: "It's outdoors, and it's providing solutions. A client has a problem, you come up with a solution, and to see it pulled off successfully is what's most rewarding." Another member of the team, Roger Gallenbo, said: "I like working on the net very much. It's fantastic and it's a nice feeling walking on it. I prefer it to working on the ropes - it's more exciting."

The nets were developed to cope with the tough conditions on North Sea oil rigs. Their use in the UAE is being pioneered by the Dubai-based rope access company Megarme, which fitted and operates the one that links Towers 3 and 4 at the Sorouh Real Estate development on Al Reem Island. An advantage of the system is that it can be used by workers who are not trained in rope access techniques. At Gate Towers a subcontractor is fitting aluminium panels to the underside of the penthouse skybridge that connects three of the buildings. Megarme staff, meanwhile, are installing abseiling hooks that will be used by rope access personnel to clean and maintain the towers once they are complete. A decking system is being used in conjunction with the net for the first time in the UAE to provide a stable working platform, which makes tasks like drilling easier.

When the work is complete the net will be moved to Towers 4 and 5 so that staff can work there. Megarme is working closely with Arabian Construction Company, the main contractor on the Gate Towers project, and Hill International, the consultant. Amel Vriesman, Megarme's head of access solutions, said: "This is a unique project because of the combination of the size and the height and the fact that we're using a decking system for the first time. "Everybody is really fond of the system. We installed it in 20 days where scaffolding would have taken eight weeks. You have to identify what is the best tool for a particular job, and this was by far the safest, the quickest and the most economical system available." Operations manager Fred Marshall said: "The net works as a system: you load one end of it and the other end tightens up immediately, so the more people you have on it the better it works. "If you stand on one end of a trampoline and somebody jumps on the other end then you bounce with it, and it's a similar type of effect with the netting system."

Golf tournament honors memory, raises funds to fight prostate cancer: A memorial golf tournament has been scheduled for Aug. 3 to honor Rodger Arndt. Arndt grew up in Issaquah and after taking over his father’s residential window washing business, continued to service many Issaquah residents after moving to Bellevue. He died just months after being diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 47. “There’s a huge misunderstanding that prostate cancer is just something you watch,” said Arndt’s sister, Diane Arndt Burns.

Members of the Chattanooga (TN) Fire Department's Urban Search and Rescue team are practicing their high-angle rescue skills this week at UTC's McKenzie Arena.  Tuesday morning, the team simulated what might happen to someone, such as a window washer, who somehow gets stranded outside a high-rise building and needs help getting down to safety. Starting from a catwalk in the arena about 85 feet off the ground, Firefighter Michael Battle is lowered by rope to serve as the victim. Mr. Battle dangles by himself, 50 feet above the gym floor, as his fellow team-members work out a plan to rescue him. After getting all the ropes, pulleys and related gear in place, Senior Firefighter Mark Brown is lowered from the catwalk to the victim. After carefully attaching rescue ropes to Mr. Battle and releasing him from his original gear, both Battle and Brown are carefully lowered to the gym floor below.

New York construction accident lawyer David Perecman from The Perecman Firm comments on window washer safety after a scaffold accident in New York. For one of the two window washers stuck on a dangerously tilted scaffold, the accident was his third. Firefighters rescued two window washers from broken scaffolding 42 stories above the streets of Manhattan, reported The Wall Street Journal(7/11/2012). New York construction accident lawyers at The Perecman Firm understand it was the third time one of the workers had been saved from a suspended scaffold on the side of a building. “Hearing of a scaffold worker needing to be rescued three times is a good indication of just how dangerous the job of a window washer can be in New York,” construction accident lawyer David Perecman said. According to the Wall Street Journal, the stuck scaffold in the accident was hanging at a 45-degree angle. The two window washers in the scaffold accident waited 30 minutes before being rescued. “Window washers risk their lives every day. As scaffold accidents without physical injuries show us, it is essential for the safety of window washers that their equipment be in working order and that all proper precautions taken,” said David Perecman, a New York construction accident lawyer for over 30 years. New York's Labor Law 202 provides specific protections for window washers. This law requires building owners, contractors and others to provide a safe environment in which window washers perform their job duties, as well as other safety measures, including safety devices. New York Labor Law 240 also protects window washers and others who perform work at an elevated position.

Window cleaners work on a high rising building in New Delhi.

An exhibit of Guarino's work, "What Manner of Men?" is up now at Real Art Ways in Hartford.  Guarino's work emphasizes the random, disjointed aspect of his philosophies. The men in the paintings look awkward, their heads disproportionately large against their bodies, which at times are fuzzy or broken up. The men do an assemblage of things that all alone may seem natural — sweeping leaves, exercising, holding a shoe, cleaning a window, walking on stilts — but when collaged together don't make sense.

'The Act's' twenty-year journey to create an emotion genre: The Act was never meant to be an iPad game. If things had gone as planned, arcades would be a profitable market and The Act would be that market's most popular game. As fate had it, arcades fell apart and so did The Act. The "emotion" game was conceived and canceled before anyone knew what an iPad was. And yet here it is, available on the iTunes App Store. Today. Right now. You're probably wondering what an "emotion" game is. The Act, far as I know, is the only one. You control the emotions, obviously, of an on-screen character, navigating them through a series of dramatic scenes, ultimately completing a story. In this case, the character is a lovestruck window washer, and the story is his slapstick pursuit of a sexy nurse. Emotion games are like playable movies. You would probably mistake The Act for a feature cartoon from the early 1990s, if it weren't for the "game over" screen that appears when someone doesn't properly man the controls. Also see previous blog here.

The iPad Game That Took 9 Years (And an Epic Disney Fail) to Finish: Edgar, a mild-mannered window washer, is daydreaming of the girl he loves. In his dream, they meet in a nightclub straight out of Casablanca, flirting from across the room. The scene, lovingly rendered in hand-drawn animation on an iPad, is controllable: By swiping your finger right or left, you can control the boldness of Edgar’s flirting. Swipe too hard and Edgar will gyrate wildly, causing her to recoil in terror. But swipe slowly, and Edgar will ease on the charm, pantomiming some smooth dance moves that win him the girl of his dreams. The Act, released last month for iOS, is a game with a remarkable history. Development on the game began over nine years ago and involved dozens of former Disney animators that had worked on films like Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. Its animation was created the old-school way: pens and paper. And after The Act was completed, it came very, very close to never coming out at all. The seed of The Act was planted in Omar Khudari’s mind in 1986. A computer programmer for an educational gaming company, Khudari was looking for the next big thing.

Clean your way to fun on the App Store with Beat the Window: AS Mobile Applications, an innovative new mobile software and applications developer, is excited to announce the launch of Beat the Window onto the App Store. Compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, this casual yet wildly entertaining arcade game charges players with a simple task - clean one cartoon window after another, and do it faster than the current Beat the Window Champion of the World! It's all about quickness and hand-eye coordination in this game, and the more times you can clean up the scene faster than World Champion Randy Doo the closer you'll get to taking over the title! Beat the Window is currently available for download on the App Store for Free in the Games category. An eloquently simple and highly intuitive experience, this game utilizes sleek touch based controls to enable players to clean off one dirty window after another. After all, that's the name of the game. There's only a few rules - don't touch the window sills while you're cleaning and clean all the smudges off a given window faster than your virtual opponent!

New Solar Windows Are Cheaper, Stronger: Using low-cost materials and a new manufacturing technique, scientists have developed improved solar windows that can produce more electricity at a lower cost. The innovation is the latest in a series of advancements for the SolarWindow, the world’s first technology capable of generating electricity on clear glass windows. The SolarWindow looks like an ordinary window, but contains unique, thin, clear solar cells that are layered on the glass. The cells are connected in a network through a grid system that is virtually invisible. As light hits the solar cells, they create electricity. The new development for the technology helps optimize the flow of electrons within the solar cells, so they can generate more power. It uses efficient, low-cost manufacturing techniques, and also makes the windows more durable because it better protects the solar cells inside. Created by New Energy Technologies along with the DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of South Florida, the SolarWindow is currently still in development. New Energy Technologies plans to eventually install the windows in homes and commercial buildings throughout the United States.

Feel-good glass for windows: Daylight acts on our body clock and stimulates the brain. Fraunhofer researchers have made use of this knowledge and worked with industry partners to develop a coating for panes of glass that lets through more light. Above all, it promotes the passage through the glass of those wavelengths of light that govern our hormonal balance. Most people prefer to live in homes that are airy and flooded with light. Nobody likes to spend much time in a dark and dingy room. That’s no surprise, since daylight gives us energy and has a major impact on our sense of wellbeing. It is a real mood lifter. But not everyone is lucky enough to live in a generously glazed home, and office spaces – where we spend many hours of each day – are often not exactly bright and breezy. Modern heat-insulating, sun-protection glazing for offices and housing doesn’t make things any better, since it isn’t optimized to allow the light that governs our hormonal balance to pass through: instead, a distinctly noticeable percentage of incident sunlight in this effective part of the spectrum is reflected away.

Anti-reflective glass that is more transmissive overall to daylight is reserved for certain special applications, such as in glass covers for photovoltaic modules or in glazing for shop windows. The aim with this kind of glass is to avoid nuisance reflections and to achieve maximum light transmission at the peak emission wavelength of sunlight. This is the wavelength at which the human retina is also most sensitive to light. “However, our biorhythms are not affected by the wavelengths that brighten a room the most, but rather by blue light,” explains graduate engineer Walther Glaubitt, a researcher at the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicate Research ISC in Würzburg. That is why he and his team have developed glass that is designed to be particularly transmissive to light in the blue part of the spectrum. The secret is a special, long-lasting and barely perceptible inorganic coating that is only 0.1 micrometers thick. “Nobody’s ever made glass like this before. It makes you feel as if the window is permanently open,” says Glaubitt. One reason the glass gives this impression is that it exhibits maximum transmission at wavelengths between 450 and 500 nanometers – which is exactly where the effects of blue light are at their strongest. New feel good glass.

The number of graduates forced to take menial jobs as cleaners, labourers, shelf stackers and rubbish collectors has almost doubled in five years, figures show. More than 10,000 university leavers took posts that do not require degrees after graduating in 2010/11. The number in so-called ‘elementary occupations’ six months after graduating in 2006/7 was just 5,460, according to data released by the Higher Education Statistics Agency. Other examples in this category include caretakers, road sweepers, street vendors, odd-job workers, shoe cleaners, hotel porters and door-to-door sales people. The figures also show 720 graduates became process, plant and machine operatives in factories in 2010/11, compared with 595 in 2006/7. But many more fail to get even menial jobs, with 9 per cent (20,620) assumed to be unemployed six months after completing their degrees in 2010/11. This is around the same proportion as the year before, but the figure stood at 5 per cent in 2006/7. The statistics will worry parents and students preparing to embark on degree courses this autumn, when tuition fees will rise to as high as £9,000 a year.

Tony Cottee’s lowest Everton FC moment - the night he played against his own window cleaner!  Everton have never played at the Globe Arena, but a Blues record signing did once run-out, reluctantly, at Morecambe’s Christie Park. And Tony Cottee found himself lining up against his window cleaner! Cottee was a British record transfer signing, costing £2.2m, but found himself out of favour when Howard Kendall returned to Goodison as manager. And early in 1991 he was ordered to play for Everton’s A team (equivalent of the third team) at Morecambe. “It was degrading for me, the club’s record transfer, being forced to play for the third team. “A couple of weeks earlier ‘Scan’ had been cleaning the windows at our house in Birkdale with Roly Howard, the manager of non-league Marine, who was our regular window cleaner! “The other Everton lads had a good laugh at my unexpected meeting with my window cleaner but despite winning 2-1, with me scoring one, it couldn’t disguise the fact that Morecambe was the lowest point of my career.”

Legal Advise - Question: We recently moved to new premises and soon after received a demand for payment from a window cleaning company. Although we told them their contract was with the previous owners they are claiming the contract is on the building, and are threatening to take us to court.

Answer: I take it you have bought the building, rather than renting it through a landlord. If it’s the latter it’s possible a management company has contracted for window cleaning and you are due to pay a share. Check your lease. If you own the building the window cleaners, save in exceptional circumstances where the window cleaners spend more than 70 per cent of their time on your building, should have no claim on you, and should send their bill to the previous owners who likely remain liable.

'My Fantastic Mr Fox': Cub visits schoolgirl's garden when she sings - Zillah, and her husband Andrew, 48, a window cleaner, contacted the Fox Project animal charity, after the animal set up home at their detached house in Tolladine, Worcester. Zillah, a legal administrator, added: 'It was a real treat to have a wild fox living in our garden but we didn't want to do anything which could damage it's wellbeing. 'The animal charity told us not to touch the fox and not approach it. 'When either myself or my husband go into the garden Foxy always hides but it always comes out when Lydia comes out to play.' Trevor Williams, director of The Fox Project, said: 'Fox cubs are naturally curious and clearly this one find's Lydia's singing entertaining and enjoyable. 'The animal obviously does not see Lydia as a threat but a friend and not something to run away from.'

Finding clarity in a new company: Isaac and Daisy Russell are former sign language interpreters and instructors who've turned into entrepreneurs with their business Clearly Clean Window Washing & More. The pair have one other employee and serve the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area. In addition to windows, they clean and perform a variety of services for commercial and residential clients. He'd always wanted to start a business. In 2009, he said, "I'm going to give it a shot" He set up a window-washing business by late 2009 and started calling on potential commercial clients that winter.

The couple struggled briefly, but stood together and a month after starting the home-based business, landed their first commercial account. A month later, they received their first residential job and less than a year after starting it up, there was so much work, they hired their first employee. They'd like to hire more as they grow over the next few years, allowing Isaac to train employees and market his business. Clearly Clean Window Washing & More now serves clients in Iowa City, Coralville, Solon, North Liberty and the surrounding areas.

A window washer repels a downtown building while cleaning the windows Wednesday, July 11, 2012, in Atlanta.

Government services contracting going strong: It takes a lot of repair work to keep government operational. Considering the buildings, roads, bridges and public lands the state owns, it is not surprising that the demand for repair work is strong and continual. In fact, there are thousands of contracting opportunities each week for firms offering repair services. Outside contractors are routinely hired for specialized expertise such as elevator repair, security alarm maintenance and window washing for high-rise office buildings.

Much depends on a test: Sri Lankan refugee Tharsanan Vijayakumar, 30, hopes the mother luck which protected him during the civil war in his country will continue to next Friday, July 27. That is the day when he sits for his driving test, for the second time, at Blacktown Roads and Maritime Services. The result will decide his future — including job security and family happiness — in his resettlement in Wentworthville. NRMA Safer Driving School offered him an extra three to four hours of free driving lessons after he failed in his first attempt last week.

Mr Vijayakumar spent 15 months at Villawood detention centre before he was given refugee status and released into the community early this year. The Blue Mountains Refugee Support Group, which is looking after him, plans to get a van for him to start his own window cleaning company with another refugee as his assistant. With a job secured, Mr Vijayakumar will be able to bring his wife and the one-year-old-son he has never seen to Australia. "It's is all I want to make my life whole again," Mr Vijayakumar said. "A secured job and a family." He was forced to flee Sri Lanka at the end of the civil war, which saw the government gain full control of the country. The Group got him a job with a window cleaning company. Group spokesman Michael Howorth said Mr Vijayakumar's future would be restricted until he gets his driver's licence. His instructor said he was a good driver but failed in his first test partly due to the fault of another driver who cut across his path.

Mansfield man threatened to stab partner in the neck: A judge slammed a Mansfield father-of-three for his ‘appalling’ behaviour after he threatened to stab his partner in the neck. Police were called to Darlton Street after a drunken Mathew Hargreaves (26) returned home about midnight and gathered together eight or nine knives, Nottingham Crown Court was told. He threatened to stab his pregnant partner leaving her petrified. Hargreaves admitted affray and was sentenced to 12 months’ prison, suspended for two years with an electronically tagged home curfew on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, to stop him going to the pub for six months. Judge Tony Mitchell told him: “Maybe by then you will have stopped drinking yourself stupid and come off cannabis.” The judge told him he was ‘immature with a very bad temper’ and people had kow-towed to him over the years. His barrister Emma Coverley said he now had the offer of a job as a window cleaner and would live on Third Avenue, Clipstone.

With so many new — and delicious — food trucks hitting the streets of the Twin Cities each summer, it’s almost too tough to keep up. All the way from the land down under, we bring you Aussie’s Kebabs — a delightful little truck, cooking up a lot of flavor. "There’s a lot of interesting people when you’re working on the streets. People watching is really, really fun. You just see crazy things happen, spur of the moment. Also, food trucks are really popular downtown with the customers but not so much the other businesses. It’s interesting to see the games and tactics that the restaurants in the area have pulled. They did a fake window-washing thing one day to keep us off the streets. Just things like that, it’s really interesting to see. I hope the people of Minneapolis enjoy having food trucks around and we can get along with the rest of the restaurants and stay out here."

An Uplifting Superhero Story: Evelina Children’s Hospital was the first new children’s hospital to be built in London in more than a century. The hospital was designed with a goal of “making a hospital that didn’t feel like a hospital.” Accomplishing this required hospital designers and staff to create a patient experience that included touchpoints fostering a sense of inspiration and wonder – in addition to healing – for children throughout their stay. Perhaps the most remarkable touch point of all comes from an unexpected source: the hospital window washers. As part of their contract, Evelina requires that hospital window washers dress up as superheroes while cleaning the hospital windows. Bedridden, sick children delight in seeing Superman, Spiderman and Batman dagling just beyondf the glass. The window washers report the superhero visits to Evelina are the highlight of their week.

Window Cleaning News Update

ASHLAND — David Gabriel plays his role to the hilt, whether he's impersonating Tony Bennett at Camelot Theatre or power-washing home gutters. A performer by night and window and gutter cleaner by day, Gabriel is among the army of artists who live dual lives in pursuing their true desires. Great Day Jobs Whether it's odd jobs, filling in at the office or scrubbing floors, actors and other artists often find themselves playing relatively mundane roles before the sun goes down. "Unless it's the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, most theater organizations here cannot afford to pay performers," said Larry Marshall, who has created a new connection between the arts community and employers. "They're not necessarily starving, but they are pursuing their artistic life passion, maybe writing a book or acting and performing."

Pictured - Actor David Gabriel power-washes a roof on Leonard Street in Ashland on Tuesday as part of the day job he performs to pay the bills between acting gigs. "Being creative is a 24-hour-a-day job," she said. "It's very important to have control over your time. When you are an artist, the No. 1 thing is to have your creative time happen when it's good for you. It's hard creating on demand, in the daytime for instance, especially musicians and actors who are working at night." Gabriel works his day job 30 to 35 hours a week, with the pace slowing predictably from January through March. "I tend to do it fairly full time," he said. "I know a couple of actors who work as little as they can and others who take on roles, or play in bands." He said he once worked on stage for three months at Oregon Cabaret Theatre. "That was cool," Gabriel said. "But each show has its requirements for casting. I may fit the bill one time and then there may be five to 10 shows in between where you are not what they are looking for. If you have a clearinghouse like what Larry's doing, then it's a little easier on you."

A smoky, intense apartment fire early Monday sent residents scurrying for safety, including two men who rappelled from a third-floor balcony. The fire broke out just before 6:30 a.m. at 10700 E. Dartmouth Ave., said Lt. Phil Champagne, Denver Fire Department spokesman. One resident, a woman, was taken to a local hospital for smoke inhalation, and another resident, also a woman, was treated at the scene and released, Champagne said. The fire, which raced up the side of the three-story building at Kennedy Ridge Apartments, displaced more than a dozen residents. Chris Lucero, 23, a commercial window washer who also mountain climbs, tied rope from his third-floor balcony so he could escape. Lucero called 911 and then double-looped climbing rope around a "beam" supporting the balcony. The neighbor went first. About 40 Denver firefighters put out the blaze in about 40 minutes. The cause of the fire is under investigation, Champagne said.

Authorities on the Bund said yesterday that they have no plans to install benches on pavements outside the luxury stores, even though these retailers have complained about weary tourists using their steps and window ledges as seats. Some stores are said to have taken to cleaning their window ledges more frequently, in bid to deter visitors from taking a rest there. One cleaner told Shanghai Daily the windowsills are not seats, while cleaning some at a luxury store, yesterday afternoon. However, most store window ledges, steps and the edges of flower beds were still populated by tired visitors, whose numbers have increased by 40 percent during the World Expo. Officials from the Shanghai Bund Management Office said they have received complaints from some high-end stores objecting to travelers sitting on their windowsills and using their toilets. The stores claim this has a negative impact on their image. "We have discussed the issue with some luxury stores and seek their understanding. We also want travelers to behave themselves." The office hasn't received any complaints from travelers saying stores drove them away from their window ledge seats, said Zhou.

Keep It Clean: A clean house is a happy house, so lose all accumulated newspapers and magazines (get recycling), file bills away neatly and give your home a once over it’ll never forget. Having your sofa, chairs and rugs professionally cleaned could bring them back from the dead, while cleaning your windows, inside and out (especially now light levels are dipping) will let much needed illumination flood in.

UK company Blade Access has been sold for an undisclosed sum and will now be renamed Blade Access Specialists Ltd. The company will focus on the access rental market and, in particular, the truck mounted platform sector. Mark Bell will be a director of the new Specialists company. Blade Access was originally formed as a window cleaning company. This element of the business has now been separated from the platform hire and sold as part of the same deal but to a different company. Mr Bell said, "We are very positive about the future of Blade Access Specialists in particular and the separation of our window cleaning business will now allow us to directly focus on what we do best in the platform rental market.

Kirk Stensrud first started to become politically aware just after he formed his own business in 2002. Stensrud, owns a window-cleaning business, has raised a family in Eden Prairie, and over the years has become more politically active as he’s connected the impact legislators can have on businesses and individuals. This year, he’s taking his political awareness a step further. Stensrud, a Republican, is running to be representative for District 42A in Eden Prairie and Minnetonka. His main concern is what he describes as a “spending crisis” at the state.

Everybody takes pictures in Los Angeles. Tourists take pictures of each other. Movie cameramen take pictures of actors. Tourists take pictures of cameramen taking pictures of actors. It's hard to walk far without encountering a movie crew on location. The other day in downtown L.A., there were no fewer than three of them. At Second and Los Angeles streets, a film crew had taken over a parking lot and filled it with cameras, cranes, lights, wires and trailers. A small crowd, held at bay by a security guard, was watching. It looked like the real thing. "Don't get too excited," said the guard, a fellow named Phil Hernandez. "It's a commercial for cough drops."

In the commercial, a window washer was unable to wash windows because his throat hurt. An old guy with a towel around his neck was supposed to be the window washer's coach. This makes sense in the world of commercials. The coach gives the window washer a cough drop and the window washer finds his troubles are over and he can go back to washing the windows. That 30-second opus was keeping no fewer than 100 people employed for an entire week. Hernandez said he earns double if the shoot goes overtime and it always goes overtime because even cough drop directors are perfectionists. Watching a cough drop commercial being made is a lot better than watching a cough drop commercial but, even so, a few minutes suffice.

Linda Robson (pictured), 52, shot to fame in the early 1990s starring opposite her friend Pauline Quirke in the BBC sitcom Birds of a Feather. Luckily Mark worries about money more than I do and so he is more sensible than me. He was a window cleaner when I met him, but he bought a house to let at a relatively young age and now he has a few other properties he manages – he has two shops and two flats in Islington. We have separate bank accounts and that works fine for us.

But purging street signs of the word "mosque" will not solve anything, as far as Ms Romero is concerned. "To try to erase history is a great error," she said. She believes the bishop's concern for the name is motivated by Islamophobia, on the rise in Spain since the 11 September attacks in New York and the March 2004 rail bombing in Madrid by Moroccan extremists. Fear of Islam is a familiar theme here. Converted Catholics of Muslim origin, known as Moriscos, were expelled from Spain 400 years ago, and following that fateful decree, many converts took great pains to prove they were pure-blooded Christians, flagrantly thwarting Muslim taboos, according to Antonio Manuel Rodriguez, author of the book Footprints of the Moriscos and a professor of Islamic Civilisation at the Spanish University of Distance Learning. "They were sending out the message, 'See, look, I'm not a Muslim'," he said. Jewish converts used similar tactics that persist as popular customs,such as staging an energetic, open-window cleaning session on Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, he said.

A worker looks out at the view of St Paul's Cathedral from the under-construction 'One New Change' shopping mall on October 5, 2010 in London, England. One New Change was designed by architect Jean Nouvel and is covered in 6,500 different sized glass panes, the majority of which have been hand-crafted. The mall will open to the public on October 28, 2010 and contain around 60 shops, numerous cafs and restaurants as well as several floors of office space for 3,000 workers.

 ATLANTA - More than two and half years after a rare tornado touched down in downtown Atlanta, the Westin Peachtree Plaza has finally replaced all its windows. "We're thrilled that this process has been seamless," the hotel's general manager Ed Walls said in a statement. "We've worked diligently to provide our guests with the best experience possible with no interruptions." Skanska USA completed the project 13 months ahead of schedule, at the pace of about a floor per week. All 6,350 windows of the decades old hotel had to be replaced for insurance purposes, even though only a third of the hotel's rooms were damaged by the 130 mile-per-hour tornado in March 2008. "The windows are now up to current building code standards and are also more energy efficient," Walls said. The Westin was able to recycle more than 600 tons of glass in the process. There is still more work ahead - cleaning the new windows and taking down scaffolding surrounding the hotel. All 1,068 of the Westin's rooms should be open again next month.

Williams deserves capital punishment: Residents - Col. Russell Williams, 47, top officer at nearby CFB Trenton, will go to court Monday, down the highway in Belleville, Ont., to plead guilty to the murders, the sexual assaults, the home invasions, the thefts, and he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, segregated for his safety, not eligible for parole until he's 72, little chance he'll ever be freed. Brian Tye, 33, part-time window washer, is standing with his dog Junior in front of the Belleville courthouse, just looking at it. "I have a sister in the Army. It really pissed me off what he did to that girl in the military. I'm trying to decide whether to come here Monday, but it'll probably be a zoo. I'd punch his f---in' lights out if I could. He should fry."

Richard Franklin's (the window cleaners) fund raising page: Through Virgin Money Giving, you can sponsor me and donations will be quickly processed and passed to charities.Virgin Money Giving is a not for profit organisation and will claim gift aid on a charity's behalf where the donor is eligible for this. I really appreciate all your support and thank you for any donations. After taking up running when I hit my head, LOL joking. When I was over weight and people knew me as fat Frank, I decided that I really enjoyed it, and the running. Well after completing a few half marathon for a few charitys, I thought to hell with it, lets do the big one. I sat there every year watching people of all ages enjoying it, and thought that's one of them things I want to cross off the list of things to do in life. But the biggest thing for me in wanting to do this, is when I became re-married to Julie, I became a step dad to her disabled son Ryan. Who has brought so many smiles, tears & laughter to me. When I see what Ryan has been though - pain, enjoyment, fun, crying, happiness, in such a short time in life, he's only 12 years old .Doing the  marathon is nothing, compared to what he been though in such a short life.

We'll take the elevator, thank you: A window washer climbs a rope ladder hanging from a hotel along the Tigris River in Baghdad.

Window cleaning company looking for non-profits who need their windows cleaned for free. Jim Ordway is the owner of Beckon Call, a window company located in Corvallis area.  As a newer company, Jim has realized the support of the community that has helped his business grow and would like to donate some of his services to help some of the areas non-profits. Window cleaning slows down a little during the winter, so there is a little more time to give back to the community.  I think it is a win-win for me and the non-profits I provide service for.  I learn more about the community and they get clean windows! I would like to receive ideas from community on who are good candidates to receive window cleaning.

Driver escapes fiery protest in Cape Town: Several vehicles were stoned and burnt during an apparent service delivery protest. Police said an angry mob threw stones at passing motorists and set at least 10 vehicles alight, including a police van. It is unclear what sparked the protests but a local shack dwellers group Abahlali baseMjondolo, which has staged recent demonstrations, said it was not responsible. Mark Archibald from Waterfront Window Cleaning said a company vehicle was one of the ones set alight, but the driver managed to escape. “He was attacked with rocks and stones. He jumped out the vehicle and they proceeded to set the vehicle alight. It basically burnt completely down to the frame,” he added.

Save Energy without Replacement Windows: Are replacement windows worth the cost? Surprisingly, if the sole reason is to reduce your energy bill, then the answer is usually no. Replacing old windows with new energy-efficient units is a big investment. It can easily cost you $500 per window, or up to $10,000 for a typical home. But will energy-efficient windows save you money? Not right away. New windows will not save you money beyond their cost for many years. That's because even a dramatic upgrade, such as from single-pane glass to a double-pane gas-filled window, will only reduce your energy costs by $126 to $465 dollars per year according to the Department of Energy's ENERGY STAR. The actual reduction and payback period will depend upon your climate, the window selected, your fuel cost or electricity rate, how much of your home is covered by windows or glass doors, and other variables. There are, however, several ways to improve the efficiency of your existing windows for less; Exterior Storm Windows + Interior Storm Windows + Weatherstripping + Caulking + Plastic Film + Insulating Window Treatments.

When Should You Replace Your Windows? If you need replacement windows for reasons other than energy saving -- for example, wood windows that have deteriorated due to water infiltration and rot, or windows that no longer operate properly and would be too costly to repair -- it pays to go with energy-efficient windows. You may also want to upgrade your windows to make maintenance easier; it's no fun to climb on ladders to wash window exteriors. Today's new window designs eliminate all of that because you can access exterior glazing by tilting them inward. Some windows can even be ordered with a self-cleaning coating on the glazing that helps prevent dirt build up.

Trophy for pair bringing hope to gang-plagued estate: Two men who have set up football sessions on a gang-plagued Derby estate have been praised by police for helping to cut crime. Trevor Victor and Daniel Cullen were winners at last night's Derbyshire Police Community Achievement Awards after an X Factor- style vote. The pair were among 21 groups or individuals nominated by police in Derby city, South Derbyshire and Erewash for making a difference to their community. They started off with six youngsters and now have more than 50 playing in four teams, including under 12s, under 14s, under 16s and an adult team called Sunny Hill Panthers. With cash from the city council, the pair managed to buy football posts, nets and kits and now 20 of the youngsters are on accredited sports leadership courses. It is hoped that next year, Mr Victor and Mr Cullen can help some of the youngsters set up their own businesses, including window cleaning, car valeting and printing. Since the football sessions had started, complaints to the police about crime in the area had dropped.