Squeegee Free - 99¢ Any Window

"Now I'm laughing to the bank. I'm good at what I do,'' Rob Feinberg says. "I don't like looking bad.''

Squeegee Free - 99¢ Any Window - You might walk away from Rob Feinberg thinking he's one of the neatest guys you've ever met or a wild dreamer. But he is interesting. Just about everything he does, or doesn't do, is interesting. And so you listen intently and wonder if he's going to virtually walk off the street into the promised land of the show jumping horse industry. Feinberg plans to turn his jumpers into some of the best in the country, the kind of horse that wins big money.

Feinberg admits that some within the industry's establishment have viewed him skeptically. But he ignores the naysayers. "When I charged $1 to wash a window of any size, they all laughed at me,'' he says of starting up Itsnotapain.com, which is Web site now calls "undoubtedly the fastest growing commercial, industrial and residential cleaning company anywhere in the "Now I'm laughing to the bank. I'm good at what I do,'' Feinberg says. "I don't like looking bad.''

Feinberg bought Day Tripper two years ago for $2,000. Day Tripper was a Western Pleasure horse, a discipline focused on a horse's manners and calmness and disposition, not jumping over fences. He has converted Day Tripper into a jumper, and says the horse recently finished second in his debut at a beginner event in Sussex, N.J. But how? Feinberg cites a summer program at SUNY Morrisville years ago as his only formal educational experience with horses. Feinberg learned the ins and outs of standardbreds, not jumpers, in the program. So how was he able to turn Day Tripper into a jumper in less than a year?

Feinberg says the key is to train the horse "from the ground up,'' meaning he first walks the animal toward and over fences without a rider. Feinberg cites the importance of a quality diet for the horse, which is why, he says, Day Tripper eats only the finest hay and alfalfa. He says the other secret is connecting with the horse. "I understand their language,'' he says. "It's like a kid. You have to work with them through their problems. I know how to make a connection. You give me a horse, I guarantee you that I can make it do anything.'' Sounds like some kind of horse whisperer. "I guess if you want to call it that,'' Feinberg says.

Day Tripper made it over just seven of a dozen or so jumps in a low-scale non-monetary event at HITS on Wednesday. He will give it another shot on Thursday and likely each Wednesday and Thursday through early June. Feinberg acknowledges that Day Tripper might not be the horse to compete for six- and seven-figure purses at such shows as HITS. That is why, Feinberg says, he recently purchased two horses from Europe, at $15,000 a pop, currently being quarantined. He claims they will be Olympic-caliber jumpers within two years. "You can spend $100,000 on horses, but it doesn't mean anything,'' he says. "It's working with the horse and understanding that horse and respecting one another.''

Robin McNellis, who rides Day Tripper through training exercises at a Bethel facility, vouches for Feinberg's skills. She says his ability to convert Day Tripper from a Western Pleasure horse to a jumper is "pretty rare.'' "It's his confidence and belief in the horse,'' McNellis says. "That's the secret. When people tell him he can't do it, it doesn't distract him at all.''

Window Cleaner Airlifted To Hospital After Ladder Fall

Emergency vehicles in Alexandra Park after a man fell from a ladder nearby.

Window cleaner airlifted to hospital after fall: A man was airlifted to hospital on Tuesday (May 22) after falling from a ladder while cleaning windows. Chris Gerrish, aged in his 60s, was working at a house in Elphinstone Road when he fell off at about 11.50am on Tuesday. The air ambulance landed in nearby Alexandra Park and took Mr Gerrish to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton where he was treated for six fractured ribs. Mr Gerrish’s wife Carole, who lives in the area contacted the Observer yesterday. She said: “He had just been cleaning windows on his normal round. “It was definitely not an accident. We think he had some kind of stroke or heart attack while he was on the ladder.”

Chris just celebrated his 60th birthday earlier this year.

Kieth Lane - Window Cleaner Extraordinaire

This is an old story, but one that has been mentioned before on the blog here. Kieth Lane is one of those remarkable guys that happens to be a window cleaner working in Sussex by day, but by early morning & afternoon he turns his efforts to rescuing people from suicide on the clifftops of Beachy head facing the English channel that separates England from France. Eastbourne window cleaner Keith Lane spends his days patrolling the 8 mile stretch of coastline, keeping a tireless watch over the notorious suicide spot. To date, Keith has prevented around 30 people from taking their own lives. "Life on the ledge" by Kieth Lane, available from all good book shops & online.

2006: A man who has talked people out of committing suicide during patrols of the cliffs where his former wife died has remarried. More than 100 friends and relatives saw Keith Lane, 55, marry Val Thoroghood in Eastbourne, East Sussex, on Saturday. Mr Lane has made twice-daily visits to Beachy Head cliffs since his former wife, Maggie, died there in March 2004. Her body was found 150ft down the cliffs. An open verdict was recorded at her inquest. Mr Lane, a window cleaner who lives in Eastbourne, believes he has stopped 18 people committing suicide since he began patrolling the cliffs. He has received a Royal Humane Society award and plaudits from local police.
Maggie Lane had been in the grip of a drink-fuelled depression when she drove her car to Beachy Head. She had taken a cocktail of alcohol and pills before her death. Mr Lane said his remarriage proved it was possible to find happiness after despair. "After all I've been through over the past 18 months, this is a dream come true," he said. "The wedding was absolutely brilliant and I never thought I would find true love again after Maggie. But it has happened and I couldn't be happier." Mr Lane met Val in a pub last summer and three weeks later proposed during a romantic trip to Paris. "We have become inseparable ever since," he said. "She means the world to me and is like a breath of fresh air. "I'm a living example that it is possible to turn your life around."
The couple are taking a six-week round-the-world honeymoon, taking in the US, New Zealand and Hong Kong. But Mr Lane intends to resume his visits to the cliffs on his return. The new Mrs Lane, who has Parkinson's disease, said: "Keith is an amazing man and I'm so glad we found each other. "He just seems to have an amazing instinct for spotting people who are in trouble with their emotions. "We have both been through tough times but at last we feel we can move on and live life happily." Mr Lane saved a woman's life at Beachy Head only a week after Maggie died. He was at Beachy Head when he noticed a woman who seemed to be in distress scribbling a letter and rugby-tackled her as she ran towards the cliff edge. He has since set up a charity in his former wife's name to raise funds and to campaign for 24-hour patrols of the eight-mile stretch of cliff.

And then in 2007...A man who claims to have stopped 29 people committing suicide is scaling down his cliff top patrols because of criticism from rival lifesavers. Keith Lane, 57, has patrolled Beachy Head, East Sussex since his wife, Maggie, fell to her death in 2004. But he said he has been criticised by Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team (BHCT) for breaking health and safety rules.
BHCT said its members were fully trained and declined to comment on his allegations. An open verdict was recorded at the inquest into Mrs Lane's death at the notorious suicide spot. Mr Lane, a window cleaner from Eastbourne, began patrolling the cliff soon afterwards.
In September 2004 he was awarded a Royal Humane Society Award for his bravery after he rugby-tackled another woman who was about to jump off the cliff, saving her life. He said the confrontation, criticism and "abuse" came to a head recently. An inquest into Maggie Lane's (pictured) death recorded an open verdict. "The last person I saved was about 15ft below the cliff edge - she had slipped over the side to commit suicide and then changed her mind," he told BBC Southern Counties Radio. "I had to climb down to get her and then link arms with her and pull her back up. "We were both in a very precarious position and they told me I could have killed her. "Can you believe that?" He admitted it would be less risky to wait for professional rescuers but said there was no time. "If I had waited for the authorities it would have been 15-20 minutes before they attempted a rescue and she had probably two minutes before she slipped off the edge," he said. Mr Lane said he used to patrol the cliff top two or three times a day. Now I am having to scale it down because I don't like the confrontations," he said. "I feel that health and safety generally has got in the way of all sorts of things - people like me must be encouraged to help people."
BHCT, which is funded by donations, says it works closely with the emergency services and the Coastguard and operates more than 100 hours of patrols at Beachy Head every week. "The team has been built up over three years and involves 18 fully trained frontline personnel, backed up by aftercare services," it said in a statement. "We have been involved in over 1,200 searches and incidents and have assisted over 400 vulnerable persons in distress. "We have also found it very necessary to keep a low profile in both the local and national media as any mention of Beachy Head tends to attract distressed people to the area."

October 2007: Lane's charity, the Maggie Lane Trust, was formally wound up and Lane halted his cliff-top vigils. Petty jealousies and "childish backbiting" from the volunteers of the Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team have left him feeling angry, demoralised and undervalued, he says: "I've even been accused of encouraging suicides here, by the publicity I was accused of courting. It's cruel and unfair." The Coastguard, which, like the Chaplaincy Team, will not comment on Lane's allegations, has criticised his "unprofessionalism", complaining that he does not alert the emergency services or even don a safety harness before scrambling down to haul waverers back from the brink. "The official view is that the lives of rescuers can't be risked," says Lane. "That's fine in principle. But people are alive today because I didn't hesitate."

Beachy Head deaths triple - December 2007: The number of people killing themselves by jumping off Beachy Head nearly tripled this year, figures showed today. Deaths have increased since a cliff top patrol was forced to quit over health and safety fears. Now there are substantial worries the upward trend will continue through 2008 - a year many predict will one of financial hardship. The increase coincides with Keith Lane, whose wife Maggie killed herself at Beachy Head in 2004, stopping his cliff top patrols. Mr Lane is credited with preventing at least 29 suicides after starting his work in 2004.

July 2009: The 59-year-old, who is a semi-retired window cleaner, says he believes Maggie's memorial cross is now being damaged by someone who has a grievance against him as three other Beachy Head memorials have been left standing. Mr Lane said, "It is desecration. It really is the lowest of the low and an insult to my late wife." Mr Lane explained his wife's memorial cross had been pulled out of the ground five weeks ago and left on the grass. He subsequently cemented it back in to the ground before adding top soil and then grass. But on Sunday (July 26) he visited the site and found the cross had been snapped in two. A devastated Mr Lane said, "I am very, very upset and I would like the person or persons to come forward and talk to me. "If they have a grievance they should speak to me about it instead of vandalising the memorial to my wife.

2009: After Maggie's death, Mr Lane independently patrolled the area and prevented 29 distressed people from committing suicide. His rescue efforts won him prestigious bravery awards but in October 2007 he stepped down because of health and safety complaints. However, after the recent death of the grief-stricken Puttick couple, who jumped from Beachy Head with their dead young son in a rucksack, Mr Lane is considering returning to the life-saving role. A mother and father jumped 400ft to their death holding the body of their dead five-year-old son in a rucksack.

Window Cleaning Hero, Car Explosions & the First Sign of Spring

Hero Sussex window cleaner saves girl in Lewes fire drama: A hero window-cleaner saved the life of a teenage girl who was trapped in a burning building and screaming for help. The 18-year-old was stuck in an upstairs bedroom of her home in South Street, Lewes, at 1pm today after a chip pan fire broke out and spread noxious smoke through the house. Watch commander Martin Lusk, from Lewes Fire Station, said: "The first she knew of what was happening was when she heard noises in the house. "She said she thought someone had come in and when she opened the bedroom door to look what was happening she found the house full of smoke." A fire had spread from the chip pan and was raging through the kitchen. The girl, unable to make her way down the stairs, slammed the door, rushed to the window and began calling for help. Mr Luck said: "She was lucky. There was a window cleaner working nearby and he brought his ladders and helped her to climb to safety. "We don't know who he was, he left when we arrived and didn't leave his name." An ambulance was called to help the girl and she was taken to the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, to be treated for the effects of smoke inhalation. She was not seriously injured. No-one else was in the house at the time. Three fire crews from Lewes, Brighton and Barcombe spent two hours extinguishing the flames and damping down the building. Mr Lusk said: "We're grateful to whoever the window cleaner was for stepping in to help. It was a good thing he did."

Car Explodes in EastMemphis: Memphis, TN - The Memphis Fire Department and Bomb Squad were called to the scene of a car explosion at 5545 Murray Road near Oakhaven and the Memorial Funeral Home in East Memphis. The incident happened just before noon Thursday, when a gold Nissan Maxima exploded in a parking lot. The owner of the vehicle, a self-employed janitorial worker for nearby offices, was transported to The Med for 1st and 2nd degree burns on her arms, neck and face. Memphis Police Director Larry Godwin stated in a news conference that the incident appears to be an accident. Investigators determined that the woman was unable to start her vehicle and sat inside to smoke a cigarette. The flame from her lighter apparently inginited fumes from numerous cleaning products in her trunk and in the floorboard of her vehicle. Witnesses said the explosion caused a "loud boom" that blew out the vehicle's windshield, back window and sunroof. Memphis Police, ATF and FBI officers deployed a bomb robot and bomb-sniffing dogs to ensure that there were no explosive devices in the area. Area offices were evacuated as a precaution until the scene was declared safe.

A simple story for a window cleaner: At a previous job we used to get the windows professionally cleaned every fortnight. It was done by a large cleaning company and we never really had any issues. They did the job and we paid the bills. One day a young man walks up to the receptionist and asked if we wanted a quote for cleaning the windows. He wasn't overly well dressed or overly well presented. He was reasonably clean and tidy though. Looked like a young man who might be a hard worker and could do with a little luck.He gave a good price and so we accepted (after going through all of the corporate halabaloo!). He turned up every fortnight, cleaned the windows and we paid the bills. As time went on, he started to improve. Had a better car, improved his uniform and I assume was getting lots of other work. He started with a squeegee and a bucket and ended up with a great little business. He had a simple thought, but the most important thing was, he acted on it. Went out there knocked on doors and asked if people were interested in his service. I believe it was Woody Allen who said "Eighty percent of success is showing up".
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A window cleaner was slapped with a parking ticket for parking on double yellow lines while he cleaned the windows of a town centre store at the weekend. Philip Adams runs Brighter Glass, a domestic and commercial window cleaning company, and had parked on double yellows in Cornfield Road on Saturday to wash the windows of Brufords Jewellers. Mr Adams, who lives in Enys Road, said he couldn't park in a loading bay because it would have been dangerous to the public for him to stretch his hoses along the pavement, so he parked on the double yellow lines which were closer. "I was temporarily stopped on double yellow lines while cleaning the windows at Brufords as I have done every Saturday for nearly two years," said Mr Adams."The nearest parking space in a loading bay was about 50 metres away and I have to trail hoses across the pavement which over that distance would cause many potential trip hazards to pedestrians. "I was in the middle of cleaning the windows when a warden came along and asked me how long I would be. "He told me to park in the loading bay and when I told him I couldn't and would only be five minutes, I received an instant parking ticket. "It's not just me that has been hassled by the parking attendants. It's all the window cleaners that I know. "We are all feeling harassed and concerned we can't go about our jobs because of the enforcement." Also here.

Hearing funny, thumping noises, I looked up from my laptop to see a handsome young man dangling outside my 4th floor window. I opened the window, learned this kid’s name is Nathanial, and he works for SunWest Property Maintenance. A little while later, on the other side of the room, another guy appeared, doing those windows. That's the new Four Seasons Hotel & Residences behind him. The guys carry a round, suction cup apparatus with which they attach themselves to the window so they don’t swing all over the place as they’re washing and squeegieing the glass. Surely, this is a much more fun sign of spring to come than setting my clock forward.

And James Stigamire, of Concord, a single dad, sits pondering the jobs he has applied for since he was laid off in August from a good-paying job as an estimator for a general contractor. He holds a clipboard labeled "professional and management," but says he can't let his pride get in the way. "I'm 54 years old. I've worked in a couple of different industries, worked my way up. I thought I could do that kind of thing for the rest of my life," he said. "It's just frustrating. I looked at this job for a window washer. They had a litany of requirements. They can be so selective now. ... There's one I'm looking at, park ranger, cleaning toilets, things like that. It's a significant cut in pay, but it has health benefits. It's a position I could enjoy."

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Replica Black Widow Bites Window Cleaner

Global warming blamed as venomous spider nibbles shocked window cleaner:

A window cleaner has told how he was attacked by a relative of the black widow spider as global warming brings more of the creatures to Sussex. The false black widow, whose Latin name is steatoda nobilis, can cause a heart attack by injecting venom into its victim's central nervous system. And the creature, more commonly found in warmer climates, is on the march through Southern England. One of the spiders attacked Darren Skilton, causing swelling the size of a golf ball. Mr Skilton, of Arlington Gardens, Saltdean, now believes people must be on their guard against the spider in case it strikes again. He said: "I was settling down for bed the other night and was lying on my back when I suddenly felt this bite. "I looked down and saw this thing walking off so I grabbed it. I got another two bites and saw two other spiders. Luckily, I managed to capture them and put them in jars. I've had them identified as steatoda nobilis, otherwise known as the false black widow." Experts told The Argus the spiders are increasingly common in Sussex and confirmed their bites can cause serious illness. Dr Gerald Legg, of the Booth Museum of Natural History in Brighton, has himself been bitten by one of the spiders. He said: "It is not uncommon in the South of England, especially along our coast. "It usually lives in dark places like sheds or behind stacks of timber." The false black widow originates from the Canary Islands but has found its way to Britain during the past 100 years, beginning in Dorset, with populations slowly working their way east to Sussex and Surrey. Global warming is said to be one of the reasons the spider has thrived in this country and could now be increasing in population. Mr Skilton's encounter is not the first time someone in Sussex has been bitten by the species. Mr Skilton is now concerned a baby or a small child could be bitten by the false black widow and urged people to be on the lookout. He said: "I was fine. The swelling went down quickly and I didn't suffer any long-lasting effects. But I am worried that one of these things could do some real damage if it bit a small child."