Man cleaning window on Spring Street
April 8, 2013

I was sitting on one of the benches on Spring Street between Broadway and Crosby when I drew this man. It was about 10:15 in the morning and the sun was bright on the opposite/uptown side of the street. I was tired and kind of half asleep when the man sitting at the bench to my right said, “Look at this guy.” I looked at him, the man on the bench, and not the guy. He motioned up at the building across the street. I saw this man washing the windows. He was on the fourth floor without a harness. He was just holding on with one hand to the vertical side edge of the window frame as he pulled his squeegie across the glass with his right hand. I have trouble looking out windows that high. I looked at the man down on the street with me and said, “whoa.” The man finished that window, lifted it up while retaining balance with his left leg, and climbed back into the building. The bench man and I were both relieved. Then a fire truck came and parked right out front of the building. The firemen got out and there was a commotion and I looked up again as the window washer looked down to see what was going on.