Window Cleaners News + GiveAway

Livid: Window cleaner Andrew Wilson was given a £70 parking fine because his van was overhanging yellow lines by one inch.

'Milking it': The van was parked near the end of the driveway because of building work going on at a neighbour's property.

Jobsworth traffic warden hands out ticket because window cleaner's van was overhanging yellow lines by one inch. Andrew Wilson, 50, was parked on his own driveway at home in Lincoln - Double yellows are intended to stop motorists blocking him in - Warden wouldn't listen to reason and handed out £70 fine. A window cleaner has accused parking bosses of trying to 'milk people of every penny' after a traffic warden gave him a fine because his van was hanging one inch over yellow lines. Andrew Wilson, 50, has been left livid after the jobsworth official slapped a £70 ticket on his van which he parked on his driveway at his home in Lincoln. Ironically, the double yellow lines are intended to stop other motorists blocking his way out.

Reason: Andrew Wilson said he tried to explain to the female warden that he couldn't move his van any further down the drive because of building work but his words fell on deaf ears.

Mr Wilson has been unable to pull any further onto his drive because of building work being carried out on a neighbour's property. But he said the female traffic warden would not listen to reason when he explained. 'I went out ranting and raving and saying 'what are you doing?' he said. 'There was about three or four people in our street shouting at her. She said there was nothing she could do about it. 'I said 'you can see the driveway, I can't use it' and she just walked off. The wheels are on my drive but the tiniest part of the vehicle is overhanging the lines. 'I would say it was hanging maybe half way over the first yellow line, probably only two centimetres. 'The warden must have got a ruler out and measured just how far over the line I was. 'The galling thing is the lines are there to stop my and other people's cars being blocked in by other people.'

Angry: Andrew Wilson of Derwent Street takes a look at the position of his vehicle after a warden issued a ticket because his van was parked slightly hanging over double yellow lines.

Andrew, who lives with his wife Keely, 39, and daughter Shania, 13, slammed Lincolnshire County Council for 'milking people of every penny' and vowed to appeal the fine. 'It's a £70 fine but if you pay it in 14 days then it's £35. I'm not going to pay it. I've appealed against it and sent the photos I took. 'I have been living here for three and a half years and the yellow lines have always been there but I've never had a problem. 'After 6pm you don't need a permit so the traffic wardens are always down there at like 5.30pm trying to catch people out. 'I've seen them scraping the ice off trying to look for permits. 'It is just stupid. It is milking us for every penny we have. It is disgusting.'

Mick Phoenix, parking services manager for Lincolnshire County Council, said: 'Mr Wilson has appealed against his ticket, so we will be investigating this. This will involve comparing any notes or photos taken by the parking officer with the evidence supplied by Mr Wilson. 'We usually have a decision in around 14 working days.The parking officers are asked to take a common sense approach when issuing a ticket. If we find Mr Wilson has been penalised in error, we will, of course cancel his ticket. However, if the ticket is upheld, there is option to reappeal.' News story also here & here.

Maid falls 30 storeys while cleaning window: An Indonesian domestic worker fell 30 storeys to her death while cleaning the master bedroom window in Telok Blangah Heights, a coroner's court heard on Friday (Jan 18). Ms Eci Eriyani, 23, had been working for six months when she fell on March 29 last year. At an inquiry into her death, the court heard that the maid was alone with her employer's mother-in-law, Madam Chiow Gek Inn, at the time. About half an hour after lunch, Madam Chiow, 79, was in the living room when she heard Ms Eriyani shouting. Madam Chiow looked for the maid and later heard a loud thud. She went to the void deck and found Ms Eriyani lying on the grass patch and called the police.

Maid fell 30 storeys while cleaning window: Coroner -  An Indonesian domestic worker fell 30 storeys to her death while cleaning the master bedroom window in Telok Blangah Heights, a coroner's court heard on Friday. Ms Eci Eriyani, 23, had been working for the employer for six months when she fell on March 29 last year. At an inquiry into her death, the court heard that the maid was alone with her employer's mother-in-law, Madam Chiow Gek Inn, at the time. About half an hour after they had lunch, Madam Chiow, 79, was in the living room when she heard Ms Eriyani shout "Grandma''.
She went round looking for the maid and found a pail of water in the master bedroom. The window and grilles were open. She heard a loud thud and suspected something was amiss. She went to the void deck and found Ms Eriyani lying on the grass patch and called the police. Ms Eriyani was pronounced dead at 1.15pm. State Coroner Imran Abdul Hamid said in his findings that the facts showed that the deceased was cleaning the windows of her employer's unit on the 30th floor when she accidentally fell out of the bedroom window and to the ground.

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Neighbours’ shock at tragic deaths: The man and woman whose bodies were found inside their South Tyneside home have been named locally as mother and son Elizabeth and Robert Douthwaite. The pair were discovered inside their house in Heron Drive, South Shields, at about 12.20pm on Thursday. A window cleaner is said to have raised the alarm after becoming concerned that a light had been on for two weeks and there were flies at the window. Neighbours said Robert, 44, was a keen photographer, and in the 1990s was commissioned by South Shields Library to take pictures for a book comparing the town’s past and present. Residents in the estate off Mile End Road where they lived have paid tribute to 73-year-old Elizabeth and her son. Robin Johnson, 71, of nearby Wellington Drive, said: “A window cleaner spotted something was wrong. “He said a light had been on for a couple of weeks and he noticed flies up at the window. “It is such a shame. The pair were lovely. But we all keep ourselves to ourselves, and they did the same. “We knew them, but hadn’t seen them for a while and then we heard the news.

Man gets eight months in jail for slapping woman on bum ‘for the thrill of it’ - A man who followed a woman and slapped her on her bottom "to get a thrill" and because "she had a nice bum" has been sentenced to eight months in jail. Sean Cullen (23) followed the woman who was out walking on a summer's evening last July and when he caught up with her, he slapped her bottom. He told gardai he was under the influence of drugs at the time and is deeply apologetic. Cullen, of Ashton Avenue, Ashton Brock in Swords, pleaded guilty at Balbriggan District Court to sexual assault on July 26, 2011 at Drynam Road in Swords. 

Garda Colum Donohoe gave evidence that the 27-year-old woman was out walking between 9pm and 9.30pm when she became aware of a male following her. She described him as putting his head down each time she turned around. “She began to walk faster and he sped up and when she slowed down, he slowed down,” said Gda Donohoe. “She rang her boyfriend and while she was on the phone, the defendant came up behind her and slapped her on the bum. He then ran onto the road. The woman's boyfriend arrived quickly and confronted the man and called gardai,” added Gda Donohoe. Cullen was arrested by gardai on December 12, 2011 and told gardai he “slapped her on the ass to get a thrill” and “she had a nice bum”.
Gda Donohoe told the court that Cullen, who has one previous conviction for theft, had spent ten to 15 minutes following the woman, who was in a terrified state. Gda Donohoe agreed with defence solicitor Fiona Darcy that Cullen was co-operative and apologetic when he was arrested. Cullen, who is a currently unemployed window cleaner following an accident, was under the influence of drugs at the time which, said Ms Darcy, was the reason he committed the offence. “He says it won't happen again,” said Ms Darcy. “He has learnt his lesson to stay away from drugs and he is worried sick as he did not think of the repercussions. He was so out of it and is deeply ashamed and apologetic.” 

A letter of apology was handed into the court but Judge Dermot Dempsey remarked that Cullen “seems to have made very little effort as the letter is dated January 2013”.  Judge Dempsey said he could not see his way around a custodial sentence despite Ms Darcy asking for community service for Cullen, as it was a “terrifying ordeal for the young lady”. He imposed an eight-month prison sentence but released him on his own recognisance of €400 and independent surety of €200 after Cullen immediately lodged an appeal to the sentencing.

Window cleaner Nick Glover with little Molly.

Window cleaner rescued kitten: A window cleaner became a hero for a day when he came to the rescue of a stranded kitten that was stuck on a roof in Bourne. The RSPCA has said a special thank you to cleaner Nick Glover who managed to rescue little Molly after she crept out of her home in Essex Way and climbed up onto a roof top. The 12-week-old kitten was spotted by a concerned member of the public who said Molly was being “dive-bombed” by some magpies and crows. RSPCA animal welfare officer Becky Harper was called to attend the incident but the cat was too far up for her to reach. But instead of calling out the fire service to rescue Molly, it was suggested a call be made to local window cleaner Nick Glover.
Becky said: “Nick immediately offered to help and arrived within 10 minutes. “He then climbed up his ladder and gently picked up little Molly and carried her back down to safety where she was reunited with her owner. “She was a little cold and hungry but apart from that fine. “I just hope this experience puts her off climbing on to roofs in the future although it’s still a bit of a mystery how she managed to get up there considering how tiny she is. “I would really like to say thank you to Nick for helping Molly so quickly and he gave his time free of charge. “He saved calling the fire brigade out and it is great that this had a happy ending.”

Burglary in Crystyl Ranch – Front Door was Kicked-In by Unknown Suspect(s): On Saturday, a home in Concord’s Crystyl Ranch neighborhood was burglarized. Here’s the information from an anonymous Claycordian…. Wanted to pass this information along about a burglary that occurred on Saturday in Crystyl Ranch. Got this from the HOA. Please help spread the word and remind people to be smart about opening doors for solicitors. “Please be aware that we had an early morning burglary on the 5300 Block of Crystyl Ranch on Saturday at around 8am or so.  The front door was kicked in–homeowners were away on vacation.  Fortunately they had an alarm which may have scared away the intruders. Two days ago, there were several men in the neighborhood offering window cleaning and gutter cleaning services–driving white vans.  The offering of services could have been a ruse to case homes for future burglaries.” Thanks for the heads-up!

Gatwick boss: 'Heathrow can't cope so send flights to us instead' - Heathrow is damaging London’s reputation with its inability to cope with snowy weather and should run far fewer flights in winter, bosses at rival airport Gatwick said today. “The way in which Heathrow chooses to respond to forecasted relatively minor snowfall is to cancel, with only 24 hours’ notice, hundreds of flights,” Stewart Wingate, chief executive of Gatwick, told Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin in a letter. “This causes a significant number of passengers to suffer days of misery, as well as damaging the reputation of London as a world city.” Mr Wingate’s attack came after hundreds of passengers were forced to camp out overnight at Heathrow, which had cancelled 187 flights by lunchtime today. Window cleaner Howard Allenby, 36, from Leeds, and his girlfriend Natasha were among 20 passengers who slept on the floor of the Aurora International hotel near Heathrow after their flight to Zambia was cancelled for a second day.

I killed Gemma after she threatened me with a knife, brother tells court: The brother of ex-EastEnders actress Gemma McCluskie claims she threatened him with a knife on the day he killed her and cut up her body, the Old Bailey heard today. Window cleaner Tony McCluskie (pictured), 35, says he lost control and attacked the 29-year-old barmaid after weeks of humiliating abuse and criticism, jurors were told. He claims his last memory is of her picking up a knife during a blazing row about him flooding the bathroom by leaving the sink taps running. McCluskie is said to have battered Gemma — Kerry Skinner in the BBC1 soap — with a blunt object and then cut her body into six pieces with a meat cleaver at the family home in Shoreditch, east London. He was caught on CCTV taking the remains in a suitcase to dump in the Regent’s Canal in Hackney. Four days later the torso was discovered by a barge owner floating in the water. McCluskie, who admits killing his sister but denies murder on the grounds of lack of intent and loss of control, is due to give evidence this afternoon.

McCluskie murder trial: Brother told cabbie ‘I have my sister in suitcase’ - Window cleaner Tony McCluskie, 35, is accused of murdering 29-year-old Gemma (pictured) last March, dismembering her body and taking it in the minicab to be dumped in the Regent’s Canal. He booked the cab to take him to the canal from the flat they shared in Pelter Street, Bethnal Green, and was seen on CCTV pulling the luggage along the towpath at around 10.35pm on March 2—before dumping it into the water. Gemma’s torso was recovered four days later. The head was found six months after that. “I asked him what was in the bag,” minicab driver Jilul Haque told the Old Bailey. “He replied it is his ‘system’—I assumed it was a stereo or something. “He lifted it—it looked very heavy.” But McCluskie’s barrister Jeremy Dein suggested Mr Haque misheard the word “sister” and thought he said “system.”

Temperatures in Skegness drop even lower: Plunging temperatures continue to grip the region in an icy embrace, with the mercury dipping to its lowest level all winter, for the second day running. Skegness weatherman Brian Porter recorded a temperature of minus six last night and said it had remained below zero for the past two days. Despite beating this winter’s record once again, the icy blast has yet to reach the extremes of last year, when Brian took readings of minus seven on a number of occasions. And in all his 25 years as the town’s Met observer, minus eight has been the lowest temperature he has ever recorded. Although his detailed weather reports continue to be a talking point in Skegness - for Brian, who is a window cleaner when he’s not recording meteorological data, the freezing conditions have made it impossible to work. He said: “The water has been freezing on the glass as soon as I try to clean it so I’ve not been able to work at all today.” The Met Office has forecasted low temperatures, icy conditions and strong winds to last until next week, with snow expected to return to the East Midlands on Friday and Saturday.

Gwent battles on as more extreme weather forecast: An extreme cold temperature alert has been issued for Gwent over the next couple of days, with warnings of frost and ice. This is the first time Vantage Weather Services, an independent weather forecaster for Wales, based in Ebbw Vale, has issued such a warning since it was formed in 2006. Daytime and overnight temperatures will remain below freezing with –3C to –5C by day, and –4C to –7C overnight for the next few days. Temperatures will feel even colder in the windchill overnight with ‘real feel’ temperatures as low as –11C. Severe overnight frosts are expected along with icy conditions. Despite the sub-zero temperatures at the weekend, that didn’t stop people in Gwent getting out and making the most of the snow. Window cleaner Greg Williams, 30, built a snowman 20-feet high around a lamppost on Lime Crescent, Somerton, with Ben Prichard, 28. Children from the street helped the two collect the snow, spending all Friday building it. “We went out there at 7.45am and finished at 3.30pm,” he said. Pictured, some of the youngsters who helped build this snow sculpture in Lime Crescent, Newport.

Facebook adds free calls for US iPhone users: Facebook's search tool announcement may not have thrilled investors or many of its users, with both groups hoping for the release of a Facebook phone, but the social networking firm has added a new tool that allows users to make free calls. The service, which according to the Telegraph, is being tested in Canada, will allow users of the Facebook app on the iPhone to make phone calls to friends over Wi-Fi or a cellular data connection instead of traditional voice services.

This will enable heavy users of voice minutes to avoid hefty call charges, as they can potentially use connections that they already pay for or are available to them for no extra charge. "We started testing this in Canada the first week of the year and today we're extending that test to the US," Facebook said in an email sent to the Telegraph. "We were able to expand the test so quickly because it went well in Canada and we wanted to expand the audience". Facebook is expected to roll out the new feature overseas - and possibly the UK - and on other operating systems including Android and BlackBerry.
The calls can only be made to Facebook users that have Messenger installed on their iPhone - meaning that people using Facebook in a browser will not have the new feature available to them. A Facebook spokesman told the BBC that the tool was different to the software used in Skype, which is already integrated into the Facebook website. Earlier this week, Facebook launched its social graph feature dubbed Graph Search, which allows people to use the network as a search engine to find people, photos, places and interests.

POS will become truly mobile: New entrants into the payment market, such as Square, iZettle and mPowa, are giving retailers a whole new way to accept payment transactions via mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones. This is just as applicable to the large multinational retailers as it is to the local UK tradesmen. There will be less scrambling around for cash to pay the window cleaner in 2013, as mobile becomes an even more integral part of a transactional process for the digital and physical world. The launch of 4G will only accelerate this.

Student entrepreneur joins the next 36: A summer running her own window cleaning service convinced University of Windsor business student Alyssa Atkins to ditch plans to study law. It has also earned her recognition as one of the top undergraduate entrepreneurs in Canada. "I knew right then I wanted to run my own business because I got up every morning so excited about going to work," said Atkins, who is due to graduate from the Odette School of Business in the spring. "It wasn't so much the window-cleaning as the chance to be my own boss, make my own decisions and be responsible for my own success."
Her business instincts have led to her being selected to join The Next 36, a program which offers promising entrepreneurs seed money, nine months of mentoring and technical support in setting up a new company. Atkins will be teamed with two other students from across Canada in developing a mobile technology business. "It's an amazing opportunity because it not only connects you with other students with similar interests but also provides you with access to entrepreneurs across the country," she said.
More than 1,000 students applied for this year's class with 72 making the initial cut for an intensive interview weekend before the final three dozen were selected. Atkins, who applied to the program last year but wasn't accepted, started preparing for her new interest in business studies by spending the fall of 2010 in Jonkoping, Sweden as part of an entrepreneurial exchange program. "They made us start a business almost right away with people we'd never met and it opened up my eyes to the whole idea of co-operation, travel and working with people from different countries and cultures," said Atkins. "When people from different backgrounds can laugh at the same jokes you know you have much more in common than you initially think." 

Toddler falls eight storeys, survives due to snow: Kiev: A three-year-old boy from the Ukrainian city of Kharkov fell eight storeys but survived because a huge heap of snow broke his fall, the interior ministry said. The child apparently opened a window of his room, leaned out and fell when his mother left him unattended. "The child fell into a huge snowdrift under the window. He survived and was rushed to the medical emergency hospital. Doctors said his condition is grave, but stable," the ministry said.
Several cases of lucky survivors have been reported in the past years. In 2008, a window cleaner plummeted 47 storeys from the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper and survived. In 2009, a 29-year-old Chinese woman miraculously escaped death after she jumped off the 27th floor. In 2010, a 10-year-old Chinese boy who fell 20 storeys from an apartment window survived after landing on a parked car. Last year, a 22-year-old Australian woman survived an unsuccessful bungee jump from a 111-metre bridge. She suffered only bruises and a broken collar bone when her safety cord snapped, sending her into the crocodile-infested waters of the Zambezi river.

The chemicals used in most household cleaners can have an irritating effect on the skin and body especially those found in all- purpose cleaners, dish and laundry detergents, window cleaners, furniture polish, drain cleaners and toilet disinfectants. One ought to wear protective gloves when handling substances such as ammonia, butoxyethanol, monoethanalamine, diathenolamine, triethanolamine, nonylphenolethoxylates, phosphates, silica powder and sodium hydroxide, commonly known as 'lye', which can all be found in household cleaners such as oven, window, bathroom, surface cleaners, deodorisers, disinfectants, abrasive cleaning powders, fabric softeners and degreasers. A good practice when using these products is to cover your skin, leaving openings for your eyes, mouth and nose, with plastic wrap. This actually helps hydrate the skin too as it forces the pores to sweat bringing moisture to the skin's surface.

A city vacated lets its dullards do the work: In the 1970s, in an attempt to take his country back to Year Zero, a prehistory from which he could refashion it, Pol Pot and his henchmen drained Phnom Penh of its intellectuals and elite. When he and his Khmer Rouge had finished their societal reconfiguration, only a drone proletariat of ditch-diggers and factory hands were left in that town. Anyone with a spark of intelligence or drive was gone. There was a rumour at the time that the dictator had once spent summers working at the Cambodian Consulate in Melbourne. The story goes he was agog at our Christmas diaspora, and determined to emulate it in his own capital once he had one. ''Everyone from area manager to dental hygienist and upward goes to the beach,'' he apparently told his politburo. ''Melbourne becomes a ghost town of nightwatchmen and window-washers. A place of pliable dullards.''

Window Cleanings News

How do you keep more than 6,300 people fed, housed and having the time of their life while floating in the middle of the ocean? The Oasis of the Seas—the world's largest cruise ship—aims to accomplish that feat nearly every week. Almost five times as large as the Titanic, it has a population during its seven-day Caribbean sailings that is larger than many American small towns—more than 8,600 when it is fully booked and including staff. The Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ship, which first set sail last December, is almost as long as five Airbus A380 airplanes, or about four football fields. It has 24 restaurants and its own leafy "Central Park." During the weeklong sailings, about 700 tons of new supplies are needed, all loaded aboard each Saturday. Guests consume about 20 gallons of maraschino cherries and 80,000 bottles of beer.
Ensuring a floating city the size of the Oasis operates smoothly is challenging. Cleaning the ship, doing laundry, and fixing things are a 24-hour job for crew members. One of the popular acts, an outdoor Aqua Show with divers, gymnasts and synchronized swimmers, gets canceled about once a week because of rough seas. And the task of cleaning salt water off window exteriors is never done.
Dozens of people and 18 robots wash windows each day. "It's like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. Once you're finished, you start again," says Chris van Raalten, ship manager for marine operations, the group of employees that steer the ship and maintain the ship's exterior and mechanics like the engine. Robots take care of hard to reach places and metal baskets move crew along the upper decks where there are no balconies to support them. Scheduling the cleaning can be tough. The washing can't be done in every port because of environmental regulations, so it often happens while sailing, Mr. van Raalten says.

A 77-year-old woman died when she fell out of a third-floor window in Mór (Fejér County), Hungary. Police say she had been cleaning the window when the gas heater she was standing on collapsed, sending her sailing out the window and plunging to the frozen ground below.

PARIS LETTER: Just as you settle into the timeless ritual of the Parisian bar, you read that the institution is under threat. It reveals its charm in its own good time, this plain old cafe I know, but after my third or fourth visit it had wound me in without even trying. In fact, its effortlessness almost defines it, by which I mean, not that great effort has been skilfully concealed, but that its owner isn’t really all that bothered about the effort side of the business. The other morning, a window- cleaner who was at work inside the cafe stood up on the chair next to me and leaned over to reach an awkward spot on the pane, flicking water all around us. His expression said: what do you expect when windows must be cleaned? Even in a country where shop-owners seem to be guided by the credo that the customer is always, incontrovertibly wrong, this was still quite something.

OAP's 32-year misery in Sheffield neighbourhood: A Pensioner today made a desperate plea for action to tackle fly-tipping and prostitution which he says has been plaguing his neighbourhood for the last 32 years. William Wood, aged 67, said he and wife Freda, 72, both disabled with arthritis, feel "prisoners" in their own home by the problems affecting derelict land on Whitwell Street, Darnall, behind their Main Road home. Houses which used to stand on the site were cleared in the late 1970s and the area has been empty ever since. It has been used as a dumping ground by fly-tippers, who have abandoned items ranging from rubble to used nappies - and even a bag containing a goat's head. And the retired window cleaner has also found needles and used condoms which he believes are from prostitutes taking their clients onto Whitwell Street because it is dark and secluded. He said: "The problems have been going on for the last 32 years since the houses were pulled down.

Expat with that magic touch: On first meeting Todd Plaster, it's not unusual for sparks to fly - from his fingers, and even from his ears. In fact, the American magician has been making memorable first impressions performing in Shanghai for the past four years. Not content to just perform as Master Plaster, a wizard who entertains for children, corporate events and private functions, the canny entrepreneur also manufactures bag-of-tricks products for export to magicians around the world. The gimmicks include devices that can be attached to a performer's fingers or ears and shoot sparks or smoke. The Alaska state native has been even working with Shanghai Jiao Tong University to design a long magician's coat fitted with a sound system that plays sound effects.
During his time in Shanghai, Plaster has worked his magic at events ranging from weddings and children's parties to high-end corporate events for multinational companies such as car makers BMW and Audi and pharmaceutical giant Bayer. Plaster describes himself as a close-up magician who does a comedy-style magic act using a mixture of sleight-of-hand and custom-made gizmos. A close-up magician typically performs to a small group or an individual rather than on a stage. Unlike a stage magician who can rely on props and illusions, a close-up magician commonly uses sleight-of-hand and dexterity developed through years of practice.
Plaster's tricks can take anywhere from a few hours to two years to master. One of his most demanding tricks is the so-called "muscle pass" of a coin. The magician will make a coin "leap" up to a foot out of his hand with no discernible movement of the wrist or arm - claiming his magic coin can defy gravity. The muscle pass is considered by magicians to be one of the most demanding coin tricks. "Whether they be hobbyists or professional magicians, most people know this trick and each year the Japanese have a magicians Olympics where this is one of the events," says Plaster. "It is like the high jump: the person who can make the coin go the furthest wins." Plaster says he was taught by another magician and practiced until his hand was blistered and bled from the effort.
Pursuing the magic behind making a buck in Asia is nothing new for Plaster, who went to Japan as an 18-year-old. Inspired by the 1980s martial arts blockbuster "Karate Kid," the young Plaster launched a window-washing business that earned him enough money to head off to Japan in 1986 to learn karate. Comfortably performing in Chinese, Plaster has made guest appearances at popular Chinese shows since arriving in Shanghai in 2006. One his more notable guest spots was on the popular talk show "Lu Yu You Yue" (A Date With Lu Yu) that has an audience in the hundreds of millions. Plaster is also expanding from magic to frights, planning to open a haunted house in May near the entrance of the World Expo 2010 site on Luban Road in Huangpu District.

Janitors’ union reaches agreement: The day before a planned janitors’ strike by members of the Service Employees International Union Local 26, negotiations between the union and contracting companies ended after 26 hours of bargaining. The strike was planned to begin Monday, but the union and the Minneapolis-St. Paul Contract Cleaners Association reached a tentative agreement early Sunday morning. SEIU will vote to finalize the agreement March 6. Contracts between the companies and the union, which is made up of more than 5,000 janitors, security officers and window cleaners in the Twin Cities, expired at the end of December. Proposed contract changes didn’t meet the union’s requests regarding less expensive health care, green cleaning and retaining full-time employees.

Glass memorial to Sunderland miners: A memorial to mark the 25th anniversary of the end of the Miners' Strike will be unveiled in Sunderland on Friday. The three-metre long and three metre-tall glass panel is being installed above the Civic Suite entrance to the main council chamber at Sunderland Civic Centre. At nine sq metres and weighing more than 150kgs, it is one of the largest pieces of printed toughened glass in Europe and its images are symbols of the strike and the region's mining heritage.

U.S. picks secure glass box for new London embassy: The new U.S. Embassy in London will be a modernist glass cube protected from attack by an earth bank, a semi-circular lake and bomb-resistant glazing, U.S. officials said on Tuesday. The embassy must move from its current central London location because the 1950s building is too small, outdated and hard to defend from security threats, U.S. Ambassador to Britain Louis Susman said. The U.S. government chose Philadelphia-based architectural firm KieranTimberlake's design from 37 submissions. The remit was to build a modern, welcoming and secure base for the United States' biggest diplomatic headquarters in western Europe. Work is expected to begin on the new embassy in 2013 and it should open its doors in 2017.

A window cleaner walked free from court despite leading police on a high-speed chase through Bristol. Stevie Wassell sped off after police recognised him driving in Hartcliffe and tried to pull him over. The 32-year-old, of Craven Way, drove on the wrong side of the road and reached speeds of 70mph in a 30mph built-up zone. The defendant managed to outrun pursuing officers who gave up the chase. He phoned police the same day and claimed his car had been stolen but pleaded guilty to a charge of dangerous driving later after accepting he had been recognised at the wheel. He appeared for sentencing at Bristol Crown Court on Friday. Wassell was handed a 52-week prison sentence, suspended for 18 months, ordered to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and pay £300 costs. He was also disqualified from driving for two years and will have to take an extended retest before he drives again.

A clean sweep for Dragon's Den-backed entrepreneur: Tony Earnshaw has cleaned up again. The young entrepreneur first came to public attention when he was seen on TV's Dragon's Den making a successful pitch for £100,000. Thanks to his ambition and business acumen, he managed to secure a £100,000 investment from Duncan Bannatyne. Now, the man behind Washington-based UK Commercial Cleaning (UKCC) was named the first winner of the Institute of Director's (IoD) 30 under 30 Young Director of the Year award at a ceremony in Durham.
Twenty-five-year-old Tony, who launched his first business at 18, today runs a company which employs 20 staff and has ambitious plans for further growth. "I was over the moon," he said. "I never thought I was going to win, so it felt great. It is the first award I have ever won – I don't think I even got a 25m swimming badge at school." IoD North East chairman Richard Elphick said: "Those vying for the award prove the region has a depth and breadth of go-ahead young directors involved in a wide variety of roles, all making a crucial contribution to our economic well-being. "We felt Tony should be named as the winner as he has demonstrated outstanding vision, drive and business acumen."
As part of his prize, Tony will receive £1,000 worth of consultancy services from leading accountants and business advisers, RMT. Senior partner Anthony Josephs said: "The 30 Under 30 listing turned the spotlight on some stunning successes and exciting entrepreneurs, which made it difficult to choose just one for our Young Director of the Year Award. "In the end, Tony was selected because he is shining example of a dynamic young entrepreneur. "The judges were impressed with his exceptional ability to seize business opportunities and turn ambitions and plans into reality." Tony first demonstrated his entrepreneurial flair at 18 when he bought an old burger van for £50. In just over two months, he made £3,000 selling burgers and eventually sold the van for £2,000. He bought a window cleaning round for £300 and within six months, was turning over £6,000 a month. Tony eventually sold that, as he had ambitions to set up a firm with bigger potential. Washington-based UKCC was born, at first providing commercial cleaning services across the North East. Within two years, a second depot had been opened in Leeds.

College students 'use road as carpark', claim fed up residents: People living near Bridgwater College say they are fed up with students parking on their road. Bridgwater College has its own on-site car park with nearly 700 spaces, but people living in Fairfax Road say students regularly park there instead, and they fear things will get worse when the college's new Energy Skills Centre is built. Window cleaner Kevin Gamblin said: “It's a day-to-day problem. They use the back entrance to the college so park up outside our houses, which is a nightmare when I bring my ladders home. “They just drop litter from their cars, and the verbal abuse I get off some of them is awful.”

Early voting begins Monday in city: Gainesville residents will go to the polls March 16 to elect a new mayor and a new District 4 city commissioner. There are 72,627 registered voters in the city of Gainesville who are eligible to vote for mayor and 16,188 registered voters who can vote in the District 4 race. Marsh, who has owned a local window cleaning business for 29 years, told the 4As the top three critical needs to him in the black community are jobs, clean air and clean water. He said he would work to "soften up" mixed-use zones to create more opportunities for businesses to develop that could provide needed services within neighborhoods.
Don Marsh countered that for the past three decades he has built up his window-cleaning business. "I know something about having the will to do something," Marsh said. "I am used to serving the public. I am used to solving other people's problems." As most of the others did, Marsh accused commissioners past and present of dragging their feet on cleaning up the site at Main Street and 23rd Avenue that has been declared a Superfund area, meaning the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found hazardous waste in the soil or drinking water. "Bureaucrats have been watching this thing for years," Marsh said.

A bioethics expert is suggesting that women rethink possible plans to donate their eggs to fertility clinics for research or use in pregnancy. Jennifer Lahl of the Center for Bioethics and Culture Network says egg donation is potentially harmful for women. Lahl says egg donation is a "risky business" and unlike a high-risk job where employees receive appropriate compensation for the dangers (think skyscraper window washing) the egg donation process is inherently risky, from beginning to end.

Glass houses: light fantastic - You could say that Jessop and Kay Price live in a glass bubble. “We have glass walls all the way around. It is like living in the garden,” Kay says. Their sitting room has uninterrupted glass, floor to ceiling, and looks out over evergreens, a lawn, pond and a little piece of English woodland. Such are the views from their dining-room that it may as well be in a tree-house. It takes perseverance to create a house like this. Jessop and Kay spent nearly four years finding the magical spot near Peaslake in Surrey on which to build Fulvens Hanger. “We wanted no noise, no light spill,” Kay says. “Up came this dilapidated Twenties house that had been used at one time by the suffragettes. The garden was so overgrown, it would have made most people run away. But Jessop could see beyond it.” Developers have cottoned on to the allure of glass and are using it accordingly, especially now that it comes in many forms, double- or triple-glazed, strengthened, heat-resistant or even heated. “Glass is sexy and smart.”

Window Cleaning News

Week of snow days, no school lunches leave mid-Atlantic students, families struggling to eat: As back-to-back snowstorms shuttered schools for the week across the mid-Atlantic states, parents fretted about lost learning time, administrators scheduled makeup days and teachers posted assignments online. But Marla Caplon worried about a more fundamental problem: How would students eat?
The two snowstorms that pummeled the region, leaving more than 3 feet of snow in some areas, deprived tens of thousands of children from Virginia to Pennsylvania of the free or reduced-price school lunch that may be their only nutritious meal of the day. The nonprofits that try to meet the need when school is not in session also closed their doors for much of the week, leaving many families looking at bare cupboards. And many parents working hourly jobs were unable to earn any money during the week, as the snow forced businesses to close.
Otto Tambito, a Fairfax County father of two, said his family burned through much of its savings during the week off from school and work. Tambito works as a window cleaner and an electrician, but was unable to travel to jobs. His wife, who cleans houses for a living, was in the same boat. "We hope that thing melts down and we start again," he said.

Where there's muck there's brass...Six months ago, Washington lad Tony Earnshaw left TV's Dragon's Den with £100,000 in his pocket and the backing of Duncan Bannatyne. Now he's heading for national business success. "The only way you'll drive a car that nice is if you pinch it."
It was a throwaway remark, but it propelled Tony Earnshaw to take action and prove the speaker wrong. Very wrong. Tony, who grew up on the Glebe Estate, explained: "I was talking to someone outside once and a lovely red Ferrari went past. "I said I'd love to have one and the person I was talking to said the only way I'd have a car like that would be to pinch it. I took it as an insult and decided to prove them wrong." Today, Tony is the owner of UK Commercial Cleaning (UKCC), one of the country's leading suppliers of industrial and commercial cleaning services.
And in case you're wondering – he drives a very nice Range Rover. A turbulent childhood has not held him back, quite the opposite. Tony said: "I didn't have the best of upbringings because my mother was ill with mental health problems from a young age. "I had to be put into care for a few years and I never met my father. "My mum is doing well now and training to become a chef.
"It disrupted my life quite a lot and I found it hard to settle into full-time education." But despite this, Tony realised he wanted more from his life. "When I was 14 I realised it was time to stand on my own two feet and grow up. "I got back into mainstream school, went to Biddick Comprehensive and achieved good results, which was part of my plan of action to the long road to success. "What happened made me the person I am today."
The 25-year-old's entrepreneurial spirit started at a young age. When he was 10 he used to walk around the estate washing people's cars for 25p a go. And way before eBay he used to flog his old books and videos by setting up a stall in the street. But after the Ferrari comment he started scanning the Ad Trader looking for a business which would earn him the money for a car. In the end he sprung for a £300 cleaning business. Within six months he transformed the window-cleaning round, boosting its earnings to £6,000 per month by working 90 hours a week. Tony said: "That's when I decided I wanted to be the biggest cleaning company in the UK. "I worked 90 hours a week for that six months to make the business a success. "Eventually I sold it to a local guy who's doing very well with it. I wanted to move onto bigger and better things." The next step was an appearance on BBC2's Dragon's Den. Tony applied to go on the show in 2007 but heard nothing back. A year later his childhood friend Stephen Pearson joined the business and applied again. "We got a phone call from the BBC one cold morning in February where we had to pass a one hour phone interview," he said. After a trial run in Manchester the pair passed with flying colours and entered the den in April. Until the show was aired in August, they had to keep a tight lid on their success.
Tony and sales manager Stephen had pitched their business to the Dragons, asking for £100,000 in return for a 20 per cent stake in UK Commercial Cleaning.After a long negotiation, Duncan Bannatyne's investment bought him a 35 per cent stake in the business and he was made a company director. "I was dead confident, I wasn't scared at all," says Tony. "Me and Stephen were bored waiting in the green room. We wanted to get in there and make a deal. "I wasn't going to embarrass myself on national television – I decided I wouldn't leave until they invested in the company." There are some striking similarities between the two Tony and the dragon who put his money where his mouth was. Duncan Bannatyne's business career had humble beginnings, too – it began in Stockton-on-Tees after he bought an ice cream van for £450 which he turned into a fleet and eventually sold for £28,000. The pair get on well and business is booming – they even appeared on Children in Need last year together, renovating a community centre. "He's a very down-to-earth guy and I can ring him any time for advice. You wouldn't think he was a millionaire, " said Tony.
UKCC now has 30 staff based at its Washington and Leeds depots with services reaching as far as the North Coast of Scotland. The company turned over £370,000 last year – this year, they are aiming to hit £1.5 million. "I couldn't be happier," says Tony. "We're moving forward and Duncan gives very good advice. "That was the reason we went on Dragon's Den. "I could run the business as it was easily but needed that extra support and knowledge to turn it into a national business." Duncan Bannatyne knows Tony wants his firm to be the largest cleaning company in the country and is obviously keen to support ambition like that. "This is a man who started as a window cleaner and has worked his way up," he said. "His story has a lot of similarities to mine and his work ethic deserves reward." Six months on from the Dragon's Den, Tony is well on the way to going national – but he is still a Washington lad at heart. He said: "(To celebrate Duncan's investment] We went out on the drink and to a comedy club in London. "I fell asleep on the tube and ended up in terminal five and Stephen got trapped in the doors of the tube!" Eventually, Tony hopes to open seven depots, with the first London depot opening this year. He said: "Everything changes when you're moving from semi-national to national. "We've got the support of Duncan's head office, in Darlington, which is excellent, and we're focusing on building up our profits to support the change. "We don't plan to run before we can walk!" While the work rolls in, Tony is keen to make a difference back in Washington. The company recently offered 13 weeks of training and work experience to 10 unemployed people by joining up with training programme ESG Senica. Two have now been taken on full time at UKCC.
Tony said: "I am a local lad and it is devastating to think that people from the North East are struggling to find work especially after some have been employed for most of their lives."By offering this training, we hope to show people that their skills can be transferable across a number of business sectors, and that it is not difficult to take the bold step of applying for jobs in a completely different industry." This Washington lad has come a long way, but he's not ready to rest on his laurels yet. "Even if we went bust, which would never happen, I'd find something different to do," he says. "Every morning when I wake up I'm excited, I'm ready to go. I have a lot of energy – I think it annoys some people but there you go!"

The film Gehry's vertigo offers to the spectator a rare & vertiginous trip on the roof tops of the Guggenheims Museum of Bilbao. Through the portrait of the climbing team in charge of the glass cleaning, their ascensions, their techniques & their difficulties, this film observes the complexity & virtuosity of Frank Gehry's architecture.

I'll fight all way to court over parking ticket: Driver claims £60 fine is wrong - A window cleaner has vowed to fight a parking fine he says was unfairly slapped on him after taking his family to and from Halifax. Self-employed Denis Goodwin, 56, says he dropped partner Karen and their two children off at the Pennine Centre car park in Horton Street, Halifax, before driving to a job at The Works, Sowerby Bridge, on December 23. He later drove back to collect them at the same car park – which he says is their usual meeting point – and was shocked to get a letter two weeks later that said he had been caught on camera – and he owed £60 for a 94-minute stay. It showed photos of his car entering the car park at 1.44pm, and leaving at 3.18pm, and said he had not paid.
Mr Goodwin, of Industrial Road, Sowerby Bridge, said: "It is selective photography. I was there for about two minutes in total. There's absolutely no record at all of the car being parked in a bay and that car park is absolutely riddled with cameras." A spokeswoman for Excel Parking Services Ltd, which maintains the site, said the notice had been issued correctly. "Mr Goodwin's vehicle was only seen by our cameras entering and exiting the car park once that day. "Excel Parking Services Limited ensures that all cameras are checked on a regular basis to assure correctness," she said. But Sara-Jo Cooper, owner of The Works, said she had an invoice for work done at her pub which will vouch for Mr Goodwin's account. "He's a straightforward man – he's not dishonest and he's not a chancer," she said. Mr Goodwin, who is now launching a written appeal, said: "I have never had a parking ticket in my life. If I had done it I would pay up – it is the principle. I will fight this all the way to court."

Lead rules may impact window replacement costs: New lead paint regulations mean it may cost more to replace those old windows. The new regulations take effect April 22. The regulations require workers who remove windows from buildings older than 1978 to be certified and they must have special gear to protect themselves and anyone else in the building against lead paint and dust. The measure, which will be stricter than the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards, aims to protect those living and working in older homes and businesses. Contractors say reducing exposure to lead is a responsible move, though it may mean bigger bills for consumers. “It costs a business like us thousands of dollars (to comply with the new rules),” said Ken Oberdorf, owner of Wrightway, N6688 Wrightway Drive. Oberdorf said expenses include employee training, special equipment, lead-safe practice areas, lead barriers for the home and warning signs. The requirements could drive up the price for window buyers by 5 to 10 percent.

A Cumbrian window cleaner who was jailed for glassing another man in a drunken bar attack failed to get his sentence cut at court yesterday. Mark Andrew Broatch, 25, of Fieldside, Heads Nook, near Carlisle, was sent to prison for 15 months at Carlisle Crown Court in December after pleading guilty to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. Broatch admitted smashing a glass into the face of 42-year-old plumber, Ian Little, during a row at the Nag’s Head pub, in nearby Brampton, during May’s Champions League Final between Manchester United and Barcelona. He ran his own window cleaning business and employed other young men who might not otherwise have found jobs, a pre-sentence report had said. And he had also shown true remorse, said he had been “ashamed” and “disgusted” at what he did and described his motivation as “utter stupidity”. But, after considering the arguments, Mr Justice Openshaw said the seriousness of the offence justified such a long prison sentence.

Front line services in Hampshire may be hit in future, warns authority: Front line police services could be slashed next year as the force faces a cash crisis. Up to £6m of cuts and savings has been drawn up by Hampshire Police Authority to protect services over the coming year. But number crunchers predict a Government spending squeeze and staff pay increases above 2.5 per cent will threaten future services. The forensics budget will be cut alongside with spending on conferences, books and magazines, window cleaning, stationery and energy bills.

Bright, clean rooms promote good behaviour: The smell of citrus promotes generosity, while dim rooms increase dishonesty and selfish behaviour, psychology researchers suggest in recent studies. Chen-Bo Zhong, a psychologist at the University of Toronto, and his colleagues in the U.S. have conducted a series of small experiments designed to test how changes in an environment — differences in lighting or smell — can affect human behaviour.

Magnetron coating deposition: The invention of glass coatings has altered the influence of glass as it used in architecture. Today?s coatings can be practically custom-made to fit into any environmental conditions and offer a specific look and performance. The applications of coating technology are endless, so it comes as no surprise that coated-glass production and research increase every year.
There are two major processes used to produce coated glass: on-line and off-line. As its name suggests, the on-line process consists of applying the coating during production while the off-line process indicates that the coating is applied when the glass has already cooled down.
The method used to produce thin films and coatings in the off-line process is referred to as magnetron sputtering, which indicates the spraying on of a coating to a glass surface. Magnetron sputtering was introduced in the seventies and increased the effectiveness of glass produced in the off-line process. When performed off the float-line, the glass passes through a series of vacuum chambers where metal oxide coatings are deposited onto the glass surface.
The process works by passing an electrical current through ionised gas, thus bombarding the surface of a metal cathode with ions. The atoms of the desired metal are vaporised and then deposited in a thin film on the surface of glass. Magnetron sputtering is an environment-friendly technology, as it does not produce any waste or ecological damage.
This type of coated glass is often referred to as 'soft-coated', because the coating is more susceptible to damage than with hard-coated glass. Due to its fragility, this soft-coated glass has some special handling and processing requirements. For example, glass produced by magnetron sputtering deposition is used mostly in double-glazed units, must be heat-threaded prior to coating deposition, and edge removal of the coating is required to allow a proper seal.
The major advantages are a highly-visible transmission of light, good thermal performance, and no color haze. Today magnetron-sputtering deposition is the most important vacuum process used in the glass sector.

HW Glass Ltd Is A Revolutionary Player In The Fabrication Of Tempered Glass: This is solely due to the innovative and diversified array of glass solutions including fire resistant glasses. Stronger than toughened glasses, these light weighted glasses bear outstanding light transmitting power. HW Glass Ltd. is a BS EN and ISO 9001:2000 certified company, engrossed in the fabrication of various kinds of glasses. Incepted in 1972, it has undertaken streamlined production process, state-of-the-art manufacturing unit, strict quality paradigm and thorough research strategies in manufacturing glasses. Fire resistant glasses help in attaining fire resistance of varying degrees. Widely used in buildings that are more prone to catch fire, these get shattered into small fragments when broken without leaving pointed edges that may cause injury. Appropriate surveillance is undertaken prior to the installation of such glassesTempered glass is also known as toughened glass. These bear high strength owing to the series of chemical and thermal process undertaken in the treatment and fabrication. Titanium dioxide coating on its outer surface allows two mechanisms namely photo-catalytic effect and hydrophilic effect that leads to its self-cleaning properties. Moreover, durability, easy cleaning & maintenance, eco friendly features makes it ideal.

Glass federation to lobby for standardised codes: The Glass and Glazing Federation (Gulf) is aiming to target a 25-strong membership to form a body and lobby the UAE Government for standardisation of glass codes, according to its chief executive. "One of the issues here is that manufacturers and processors work to very high technical standards but they are all different - American, Japanese, British or European. The idea of the federation is to bring the industry together and give them a single set of standards that everyone works to - so that it becomes easier for architects and specifiers to understand how they were comparing companies and it is a way of promoting those companies that promote themselves as high quality as opposed to those outside the grouping," said Nigel Rees, Chief Executive and National Secretary, Glass and Glazing Federation.
The aim is to find a single voice. "We can be a single voice in the Middle East. In the UK, if a single company tries to go and speak to the government, it will not be heard. But when we go as federation and say that we speak for the industry, it will be heard," he told Emirates Business in an exclusive interview. The Gulf chapter of the federation was set up two and a half years ago. It has 12 members [companies] from the industry in the GCC. "There is also some interest in Egypt and Syria. The aim is a single standard that the glass industry can work with in the region and hence there is no boundary to the membership in the region. We had a workshop yesterday and got around 15 participants," said Rees, who was speaking on the sidelines of the Facade Design and Engineering 2010.
"The industry is very open to the idea and we have still not met a company that has refused to hear us. We are hoping to reach 20-25 companies to be a strong and sound base, which would take us another 18 months to two years. We have sat down with the Abu Dhabi Standardisation Authority and had a positive response. The next move is to look at meetings in Dubai but more towards the regulation side, namely Dubai Municipality. We have used the knowledge of our members within the region and can assist in the overall technical work and the standardisation but it will be an open debate as to what will really be needed in this part of the world."
Meanwhile, Richard Gulliver, Chairman, Technical Committee, Glass and Glazing Federation, Gulf, said that clients need to look at using high performance glass. Cutting down construction costs in the initial run does not help in a good return on investments in the long run. "Since the start of the downturn, we found that clients don't want to spend as much as they wanted to on the cost of the building and glass is the area that they reduce costs," said Gulliver. "They want something that will save them costs in the initial run but will cost a lot of money in the long run. These studies show that a building with a 10,000 sqm façade and using high performance glass will save around Dh24 million over 20 years based on today's energy prices."