I had a nice surprise the other day.  But let me back up first and tell you about how many people it takes to keep a condo apartment of 24 floors, maybe 12-14 suites per floor in tip top shape....

I might add that we have actually 3 buildings in our complex.  The first one built, the one I am in is called Battery Park.  It is positioned in the centre of the 3 buildings and it was the first one to be built.  It's address is 50 Lynn Williams, but the main entrance is on Battery Park Road- the street to the north.  So the building is called Battery Park

The next building to be built was given the name Zip - it is actually more correctly on Pirandello street,positioned to the east and slightly north of Battery Park.  The 3 buildings are surrounded by a square of 4 streets - I get a bird's eye view of their balconies.

The third building, which is under construction now - just a bit further along than my Liberty Towers Condo, is called Vibe and it is to the west and slightly north of Battery Park.

So back to the 2nd diversion to the main story of this blog. I was talking about the number of people it takes to run the complex of 3 buildings in order to explain my gift, which is pictured in this blog.

There is one main entrance and front desk for the complex.  There are 3 shifts of  guys - maybe you would call them security guards - I prefer to call them "concierges" (but they really are not in the hotel concierge sense) anyway there is two guys on guard for day and evening - and one during the overnight from midnight until about 7:30 a.m.  I walk the dog at least twice a day and these guys always open the door for me - saving me to have to fumble for keys.  They also always say hi and give me a smile and wish me a good day - morning and night.

The building also has cleaners.  Two guys who work my building.  Rene and Marianne work my building - a different guy works the weekend day shift.  Not sure who does the other buildings.  They work all day - each morning Rene is mopping the elevators as I take Bella out in the morning and usually Marianne is cleaning in the front foyer when I come back in.  In the evening there is another guy (sadly, many of these guys who work my building remain nameless), who cleans during the early part of the evening - these days that mostly means cleaning up all the salt tracked in through the entrance to the elevator lobby.

Of course, we also have the property manager - who works in his office each day and stays late on Wednesday in case any of the owners need to chat with him they don't have to take time off work.

You might be wondering why I am going into such a long winded explanation of all the guys it takes to run the building.

At Christmas I like to give something to every person I owe thanks to for helping me out during the year. That means all of these guys.  My idea is that it isnt the value of the gift, but the fact that there is one, and that it is nicely wrapped and accompanied by a card which thanks them for their kind service during the year. Usually it is a box of chocolates, although the "main guy" at the front desk - in previous years Rolland and this year Frank - would get a bottle of brandy.  Anyway, I feel strongly that we need to show appreciation to those guys who make our lives easier whilst they do what I would consider pretty thankless jobs.  So I make a point of seeking out each and every person during Christmas week and giving them their thank you gift.

This year I got a gift back!!!!  Frank - our new "main front desk guy" rang me on the weekend and said he had a gift for me.  He then brought me up the nicest box of beautiful hand made marzipan candies in a gorgeous box that his wife made!  I was really flattered to receive this giftp andarticularly since he repeated several times "because you deserve this!".

Pretty nice.