Most Craziest Job : Cleaner Stand out on the narrow ledge and holding the frame on 34th floor of a tower Cleaning window on Jumeirah Beach, Dubai
When he spotted a mark on his apartment window, this chap just had to pop out to give the glass a quick wipe with a squeegee.
Nothing odd about that – except that he lives 400ft up on the 34th floor of a tower block in Jumeirah Beach, Dubai.
He stepped out on to the narrow ledge and, holding the frame, stretched across to wipe away the annoying smudge.
Hell for leather: A window cleaner, circled, takes his life into his own hands on the 34th floor of a Jumeirah Beach apartment block
As he takes his life into his hands, at least he has the sense to hold on to the window frame, even if it is by his fingertips, as he goes about his task.
He was snapped making sure the windows were sparkling by a resident in a neighbouring apartment block.
A resident of a neighbouring block who took these pictures said: ‘The professional cleaners have safety harnesses and cradles and helmets. He had nothing.’
When it comes to safety among its massive immigrant workforce, the Dubai authorities have a dubious record.
Conditions in which immigrants are expected to work has been a subject of discussion in the United Arab Emirates for many years.
Yet the majority of these employees have no voice, especially when it comes to their own safety. They are also aware that, if they are deported, there are thousands of others willing to take their place.
Nothing odd about that – except that he lives 400ft up on the 34th floor of a tower block in Jumeirah Beach, Dubai.
He stepped out on to the narrow ledge and, holding the frame, stretched across to wipe away the annoying smudge.
Hell for leather: A window cleaner, circled, takes his life into his own hands on the 34th floor of a Jumeirah Beach apartment block
As he takes his life into his hands, at least he has the sense to hold on to the window frame, even if it is by his fingertips, as he goes about his task.
He was snapped making sure the windows were sparkling by a resident in a neighbouring apartment block.
A resident of a neighbouring block who took these pictures said: ‘The professional cleaners have safety harnesses and cradles and helmets. He had nothing.’
When it comes to safety among its massive immigrant workforce, the Dubai authorities have a dubious record.Conditions in which immigrants are expected to work has been a subject of discussion in the United Arab Emirates for many years.
Yet the majority of these employees have no voice, especially when it comes to their own safety. They are also aware that, if they are deported, there are thousands of others willing to take their place.
10 World's Craziest Festivals
Here we collect ten World's wackiest festivals details. Hope you like it and enjoy!
1. Tomatoes, potatoes, radishes and cheese - it may sound like the fixings for some exotic foreign dish, but each is actually the main ingredient for some of the weirdest and wackiest festivals (not to mention tourist attractions) in the world.
2. Potatoes, not tomatoes, rule in another food-related festival held in August. About 15,000 gather in a small Minnesota town each year for Barnesville Potato Days, a weekend fest which includes such spud-centric fun as potato-peeling and potato-picking contests, potato sculpturing, potato sack races and a massive human 'mash' pit (above).
3. Orange you glad he wore a helmet? A participant gets a face full of instant o.j. at the annual Battle of Oranges in Ivrea, Italy. Several teams in elaborate costumes compete by flinging oranges at each other, a custom said to have originated in 1266 when p.o.-ed peasants dissed a tyrannical feudal lord and his men by winging oranges at them.
4. It's all downhill from here at the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, a Gloucestershire, England, festival where participants risk life and limb to follow a wheel of cheese down a steep and bumpy hill. The rolling cheese can reach speeds up to 70 mph, and injuries are common in this event said to date from Roman times. But it's worth it considering the first prize - the winner gets to keep the cheese, if not his dignity.
5. Chasing cheese has spread to other shores - Canada now has its own version, albeit a little safer. Men in helmets (above) run after an elusive, 11-lb. wheel of c
6. Belly-floppin' into mud pits is just some of the down n' dirty fun at the annual Summer Redneck games, held in East Dublin, Ga., as a way of celebrating, well, being a redneck. Other contests and events include bobbing for pigs' feet, throwing 'horseshoes' (toilet seat covers) and spitting watermelon seeds.
7. The Mid-Atlantic Hermit Crab Challenge in Virginia Beach, Va., is tailor-made for crabby people - owners of hermit crabs who enter their beloved pets in such competitions as 'beauty' contests and the Crustacean 500 (above), where hundreds of crabs race each other - very, very slowly - along an eight-foot track.
8. This annual Thai fest is more fun than a barrel of you-know-whats. At least it is for the thousands of monkeys who live in the Lopburi province near Bangkok and are offered a lavish feast of food, fruit and vegetables - washed down with soda pop - by local residents during the Monkey Festival in November. Feeding the critters is said to bring good luck - not to mention a heavy influx of curiosity-seeking tourists.
9. No, Night of the Radishes is not a B-movie horror flick - it's an annual event held on Dec. 23 in Oaxaca, Mexico, that attracts thousands of revelers and dates from 1897. Known in Spanish as Noche de Rabanos, it's when the main plaza in town is turned over to clever sculptures made from huge radishes specially grown for the festival.
10. Spain has festivals centered on running with bulls and the tossing of tomatoes, so is it really a surprise that a festival in Castrillo de Murcia features... jumping over babies? During 'El Salto del Colacho' (Jump of the Devil) men in devil costumes take a flying leap over a mattress full of infants. The tradition dates from the 1620s and is meant to bless the babies. Providing the leapers don't misjudge their trajectories.
1. Tomatoes, potatoes, radishes and cheese - it may sound like the fixings for some exotic foreign dish, but each is actually the main ingredient for some of the weirdest and wackiest festivals (not to mention tourist attractions) in the world.
2. Potatoes, not tomatoes, rule in another food-related festival held in August. About 15,000 gather in a small Minnesota town each year for Barnesville Potato Days, a weekend fest which includes such spud-centric fun as potato-peeling and potato-picking contests, potato sculpturing, potato sack races and a massive human 'mash' pit (above).
3. Orange you glad he wore a helmet? A participant gets a face full of instant o.j. at the annual Battle of Oranges in Ivrea, Italy. Several teams in elaborate costumes compete by flinging oranges at each other, a custom said to have originated in 1266 when p.o.-ed peasants dissed a tyrannical feudal lord and his men by winging oranges at them.
4. It's all downhill from here at the Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, a Gloucestershire, England, festival where participants risk life and limb to follow a wheel of cheese down a steep and bumpy hill. The rolling cheese can reach speeds up to 70 mph, and injuries are common in this event said to date from Roman times. But it's worth it considering the first prize - the winner gets to keep the cheese, if not his dignity.
5. Chasing cheese has spread to other shores - Canada now has its own version, albeit a little safer. Men in helmets (above) run after an elusive, 11-lb. wheel of c
6. Belly-floppin' into mud pits is just some of the down n' dirty fun at the annual Summer Redneck games, held in East Dublin, Ga., as a way of celebrating, well, being a redneck. Other contests and events include bobbing for pigs' feet, throwing 'horseshoes' (toilet seat covers) and spitting watermelon seeds.
7. The Mid-Atlantic Hermit Crab Challenge in Virginia Beach, Va., is tailor-made for crabby people - owners of hermit crabs who enter their beloved pets in such competitions as 'beauty' contests and the Crustacean 500 (above), where hundreds of crabs race each other - very, very slowly - along an eight-foot track.
8. This annual Thai fest is more fun than a barrel of you-know-whats. At least it is for the thousands of monkeys who live in the Lopburi province near Bangkok and are offered a lavish feast of food, fruit and vegetables - washed down with soda pop - by local residents during the Monkey Festival in November. Feeding the critters is said to bring good luck - not to mention a heavy influx of curiosity-seeking tourists.
9. No, Night of the Radishes is not a B-movie horror flick - it's an annual event held on Dec. 23 in Oaxaca, Mexico, that attracts thousands of revelers and dates from 1897. Known in Spanish as Noche de Rabanos, it's when the main plaza in town is turned over to clever sculptures made from huge radishes specially grown for the festival.
10. Spain has festivals centered on running with bulls and the tossing of tomatoes, so is it really a surprise that a festival in Castrillo de Murcia features... jumping over babies? During 'El Salto del Colacho' (Jump of the Devil) men in devil costumes take a flying leap over a mattress full of infants. The tradition dates from the 1620s and is meant to bless the babies. Providing the leapers don't misjudge their trajectories.
