While awaiting my flight to New York on an airplane operated by China Eastern Airlines at the gate area at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China, I sat in wonder watching window washers working on washing windows while wielding squeegees and scaling the wall of windows — which interested me because of its unusual angle; as well as the finesse and efficiency of the way they worked.
Passing Time: Watching Window Washers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China
I will let the photographs do most of the talking — although they do not do justice to what approached as a form of performance art:
Note the angle of the wall of windows on the right in the gate areas of this building at Shanghai Pudong International Airport.
A view in the opposite direction of the gate area shows the wall of windows on the left.
One of the two workers scales up the wall with his bucket of soapy water and squeegee, ready to wash the next window.
Both workers were quite agile and flexible, as they scaled the windowed wall with no hesitation whatsoever.
Have you ever watched something which should be on the same interest level as watching paint dry, water boil, or grass grow — and yet be fascinated by it?
Final Boarding Call
Despite their incredible efficiency, I imagine that with the sheer number of windows on that one wall in the building, the first set of windows will probably need washing again by the time the last set of windows are cleaned — and then the whole process would start over again.
I suppose you had to have been there…
All photographs ©2014 by Brian Cohen.
