Brothers

This photo doesn't do them justice, but it's not often I see them altogether and so made the most of it. Meet from L-R: Elroy, Givanildo and Gildo, the three lovely doormen in our building. Elroy's the eldest, then Gildo, and Givanildo in the middle is the baby. They work in shifts round the clock managing the reception of our building, taking deliveries, dealing with the maintenance and generally working quietly behind the scenes to make sure everything runs like clockwork. They're always polite, friendly and welcoming and are often to be found just outside the door on the street, having a chat with one or other of the neighbours. I found it difficult to get all their names right for a while as, although they don't look like each other too much when you see them together like this, when you're faced with just one smiling face it's a different matter! Now I've got it! I was just saying to a friend the other night that our building here is a happy one - people sing, Brasilian music is always somewhere, everyone greets each other and has a little chat. There are t-shirts on sale in Rio at the moment with the slogan, 'Gentileza genera Gentileza' (kindness generates kindness) and I think these brothers are a good example of this.
PS: In the pic here, only Elroy's on duty.