New Constructor Brush - fitting new bristles

See my latest video here: New Constructor Brush configuration of bristles This is a video of my new Constructor brush and how it performs with new extra long bristles on the end caps

Here are some pics to show what I did:

Note how much longer the new black bristles are from my original attempt with the white ones.

Amazon eBooks - Free preview

Did you know that you can preview millions of books before you buy on Amazon Kindle library? Yes and it's free with no catches whatsoever. So if you see a title In Amazons eBook library that you think will be a good book to read, you can preview it by clicking on the "Look Inside" tab that is displayed on the top edge of the cover of the book.

It may surprise you at just how much of the book you can actually preview. You will be able to read more pages of your potential purchase than you think. This is a good thing since you can often get a real flavour for the book that you have taken an interest in.

So, if you were not aware of this generous feature that Amazon have provided in their Kindle book store, then it can be a big advantage in helping you make up your mind on what title to buy. Here is an example of what you will see:

Here is a real example for you to read. It may surprise you at just how much of a book you can actually read before having to buy it "Inside the Clock". This is my book by the way - hope you enjoy the introduction to a story about time travel but based on a true story.

The Dorset window cleaning show 2015

The second  annual window cleaning show in Dorset, was arranged by Mark Munro to whom we owe a great deal. It can't be easy organising a show like this and apparently, it leaves him out of pocket too. Now that's what I call dedication.

This year the show was moved a couple of fields further away from the beach. Not that it mattered at all as the space in the new field was perfect especially as the marquee this year was about five times the size of last year. This was able to accommodate virtually all the stands. Some of the smaller stands still had to set up outside but Mark provided gazebo's for these and indeed under one was my friend Darren Ansbro who is a window cleaner but has also recently started to build flow controllers for DIY water fed pole systems. These are no nonsense bits of equipment built to last and at the same time, to be efficient.

Even though the weather was no where near as good as last year - the rain came down trying to dampen our spirits but we would not let it. Later though, the sun burst out and everyone was happy.
We were there early in order to help Darren set up and after this we all had a bacon butty and a cup of tea at the burger van. This was the same one as last year and we recognised the ladies who ran it.

The drive down to the venue for us was a long one. This year we decided to stay in the Travelodge instead of camping. This proved to be the best option because of the weather and my creaky bones.
My son Tristan, along with Darren came along, Tristan doing the lions share of the driving bearing in mind that the trip from Durham to Dorset is about 400 miles.

Once the bacon butties had been devoured and the rain stopped, then the punters began to flood in and I began to film as many of the stands and characters as possible. I have a YouTube channel called MyWagga on which I put anything to do with window cleaning. I was able to film Willie Erken with his amazing Wagtails, Bob Hatt at the Moerman stand with the new Liquidator Squeegee, Peter Fogwill with Aquatap without which I think I would die, Pro Gutter with Danny which we also use in our own business, Facelift and their amazing van system with hi-tech phone control, then came Scott Denning who is now representing Sim pole. I also got to film Mark Munro doing a speed clean timed by the famous Terry Burrows, the current world record holder. I also had a go at this and although I did well, I did not win.

Apparently, the attendance was about double what it was last year so things look good for next year. Mark has suggested though that it should be a two day event in the future. This would give more time for everyone to have a good look round. Not that it took very long to walk round the venue, in fact you could walk round in a matter of minutes- it's just that once you got talking and meeting old friends and new ones, the hours began to slide away pretty rapidly. As for my son and I, well with the filming we did it was even worse and a relaxing day turned into a manic one trying to film as many people as possible. This is where a two day event would turn out to be an advantage to us at least.

Just before leaving Tristan, Darren and I went up into the bar but were dog tired so after one drink we said goodbye to Mark Munro, Willie Erken and Karl Robinson among others. We made the 30 mile drive to the Lodge and bed.

All in all, it was a very successful trip and a lot of good came of it. It is surprising what you can learn and the people you can meet like the famous Terry Burrows and all your old friends. If you can make it next year, I promise you that it will be well worth it.

The Story Behind the Kite

The kite in the picture has a story. About ten years ago, my family and I were on the beach at Seaton Carew in the North East of England. My son was fourteen at the time and as we made our way to the beach we could see an unusual kite flying gracefully in the breeze.

It was an old man that was flying the kite and eventually we approached him and struck up a conversation. My son said "this is the kite I want". The gentleman said "here have a go". As my son flew the kite we found out that the owner actually made kites including the one that my son was flying. He was a member of a kite club and had been making kites for years.

After a while he said "do you really like this kite?" We said "yes we really did". "In that case" he said, "you can have it", Ever since, we have been grateful for that kind act and have flown the kite several times since but we never saw the old gentleman again.

The kite involved is call a hexagon because it has six sides. It also features a really long tail which keeps it really stable in flight. Three sticks form the frame on the back and its dead easy to set up and fly.

Really chuffed about "Inside the Clock"

My time travel book, "Inside the Clock" is doing great. I can't believe how quickly I was able to write it and get it published on Amazon. I think Amazon is a great platform for any budding author who is able to write a reasonable book. I think it only took me two weeks to write this book whereas with my autobiography, it took a year. Of course the novel is much much shorter but is in fact much more popular but there you go.

"Inside the Clock"

I based the novel "Inside the Clock" on a true story. Its about me going back in time to a place in my youth and my first love. It was back to a day I wanted to change but was unable - until now. Everyone in the book is real as are the places, the place names and all the pets and animals that feature.
Whether or not you believe in the time travel bit, well that's up to you but I hope you enjoy the twist at the end which will get you thinking.

"Inside the Clock" book

The point here is that if I can do it without any formal training of any kind, then I reckon you can give it a go and probably do even better than me. Here's a tip for writing: Try to write about the things you already know about or even base a novel on your own experiences like I did. That way, you will be more confident about your writing, your content and theme. Don't be afraid to change a few things. After all its a novel and will only be based on your story.

Can you relate to others?

I often find it a comfort to be able to relate to other peoples experiences. A problem shared is a problem halved as they say and it is quite true. When you share a problem or something that's on your mind, there is no doubt that you fell uncannily better. It's sort of built into us.

In this blog, I have attempted to put down all the experiences, adventures, failures and triumphs into a multitude of articles. I also have bragging rights like when I survived a helicopter ditching and also surviving two motorcycle crashes in one day. I've done a lot of stupid things but also a few good things too. But again, I hope that within some of these experiences, you can relate to them too.

Most of the things that you read about here are things that I was reluctant to do or engage in but in an age of deference I felt it was my duty to do them. Sometimes I wish I could go back an change things but again, when I look back on my life, I am content that I had so many experiences because it made me into the person I am today.

Put a tap on it

The use of a tap to stop the flow of precious pure water just when you want it to has been a long and tortuous road.

When I first started with water fed pole system there really wasn’t much on the market or many DIY idea’s about to solve the problem of turning off the water in a convenient way. I had a Freedom trolley system to begin with which was very well made but there was no sign of a tap of any kind. I would try to keep the trolley close to me and when I had finished a run of windows, I would rush over to it and just switch it off.

This is fine until you can’t quite get your trolley past that wheelie bin or up them steps lad! So you find yourself rushing about trying to beat the flow and getting in all sorts of bother. And just then the customer comes out and wants to pay you. Then the water runs out and you have to change the barrel – again. I say barrel because it’s typically in this situation that you want to save water because you have a very limited supply. If you are using a van mounted system with a large tank, then you may not need to worry as much about saving water and a full tank might just last you all day. But what about the water bill? If you are using a DI (deionising tank) to purify your water, then the amount of resin you will use might make your system uneconomical. Not only this, it is more convenient and faster if you don’t have to top up those barrels or big tanks as often.

This is when I got to thinking about putting a tap into the pole hose somewhere. Great but it dragged on the ground and got caught on everything. Then there was the great idea of having the tap on your belt. It sort of worked but if you had any leaks at all, you had a wet leg all the time. Not only this, it tended to be like some sort of alien umbilical cord which would forever marry you to your prize pole so you could never leave it. “Excuse me, can I pay you?” “Er...... no”

Some people would just kink the pipe and this worked quite well but the results would depend largely on what type of hose you were using as to whether or not the water would completely shut off and the pump would cut out as it should when it senses that the flow has been restricted. Then again, you would be stood there with that kinked hose in your mitt with nowhere to go again. Some would bolt a small eyelet onto their pole and this would be a place where it could be wedged until required once more. This would seem a good idea but it is still just that little bit awkward and unreliable.

There was always the high tech method. This seemed promising apart from the price. It was and still is a device that transmits a message to your pump/flow controller, you can turn off now. It’s like a remote central locking key fob. It is very good but has some downsides. The first is that you have to fumble for the thing in the first place. The batteries run out and worst of all its “line of sight” meaning that sometimes the signal that you are trying to transmit to tell the system to stop the water won’t get there so you run round the corner and aim it at your van and hey........

Alright the new versions are much better and there are some that can use the aerials of people’s houses to “bounce” the signal off. I’m not well up on this but I’m sure it’s getting there. This system might just be more appropriate for when you are doing commercial work rather than domestic houses. Not only this but it will cost more than that second hand back pack you are using....

The next thing I decided to do was to use the tap I got with the leather holster and just tape it to the pole. Now we were getting somewhere. It worked really well and it was close to hand all the time. It was almost instant too and all it took was a quick flick of my hand or thumb and it was done. The water was no more.

The only downside to this was that the tap was a bit heavy so it made the pole heavier but not noticeably so. The other downside was that you needed to route the pole hose internally and of course this meant that you had a big trailing loop to contend with but once you got used to it, it was pretty good. All I used for this was tape to secure the tap onto the pole in the best place near the bottom.

Then Unger came out with a tap that you could just trap the hose and it would shut off the water. At first glance this seemed to be the ultimate answer. It was light, it was cheap and it was effective....but there was a small problem. This came in the form of when lowering the pole, unless you wanted a massive trailing loop in front of the tap instead of behind it, you had to literally pull the pole hose which had to be external, through the tap again to get everything tidy before starting over again.

                                                             

Then we had the Aqua-dapter invented by window cleaner Steven Jones. This was truly a revelation and indeed it worked well. This works on a mechanical principle of pulling your internal hose which activates a small lever which in turn switches on/off the water - genius.

There are not many drawbacks to this system except that it adds a little weight to the top of the pole and if the pole is fully extended and heavy at the time, you do need to let go of the pole with one hand and pull downwards to actuate the mechanism although you could just stand on the hose and pull it that way. I never tried it myself. Normally this is not a problem and these taps are used extensively by many window cleaners throughout the world. I am not sure if this tap can be used with the hose externally yet so if you want to split the pole, then you can’t.

After this came the magical simplicity of the Aquatap invented by Scotsman Peter Fogwill.

This is light and again resides at the top of your pole. It works by twisting your pole. Twist one way and it comes on, twist it back the other way and it stops. Magic! The beauty of this is that you can have your pole hose internally or externally and it will still work regardless. Now that I like. The downside to this type of tap is that if you have a brush that swivels, then it becomes very hard to apply the twisting leverage required to actuate the tap but to be fair, not everyone is sold on swivel brushes. Personally, I would probably die without one but that’s another story.

Another downside is that because of the natural ergonomics involved in actually cleaning a window with a pole and brush, some inadvertent actuation of the unit will take place either switching on the water when not required or the opposite. I didn’t find this too much of a problem and a little change of technique generally sorted this out.

I have other idea’s which are at present being evaluated and tested but these are very basic idea’s and are already well tried principles that have been used before and not the perfect solution. In fact I don’t think there is a perfect solution but I would be very happy to be proved wrong.

Everyone will have their favorite method of cutting off the water supply and many will be satisfied with what they have at the moment because they have not tried anything else or that they have become expert at doing what they do. Some will wonder what all the fuss is about as their squeegee glitters in the sunlight.