Mr A was well prepared when I arrived to clean the windows in his second floor flat, with bucket, window squeegee, cleaner and cloths on a table for me to use. He showed me each of the rooms that he wanted the windows cleaned (two bedrooms, living room with balcony, kitchen) and I got to work.

Accessing the outside of the windows proved a real challenge in the bedrooms where I was reaching the limits of how far I could stretch my arms to just get to the furthest corners. Fortunately the large balcony windows were more accessible, both outside and in, and once they were done (including the small top ones which again required some reaching to get to the corners) it was just the kitchen windows, where I ended up sitting on the sill to get them done.

Mr A proved to be a tough and observant taskmaster, pointing out with his crutch any spots or streaks that I'd missed either on the inside or out, but by the end he was commenting on my "nice work" and thanking me profusely for my efforts. He rewarded me with an almond croissant and a cup of tea with a slice of lime, and we had a good long chat about his early life in London and trips back to his homeland, before I wished him farewell.