The window-washer is hard at work downstairs. Upstairs, the improvement is startling.

Because I'm chicken on ladders, the upstairs windows haven't been washed since before we bought this house. Therefore, they had at least eight years' accumulation of airborne grunge.

In my next abode, I'll indulge in an annual splurge on clean windows. As luxuries go, it ranks well above a spa visit, and probably costs about the same.