One unexplained case
It happened in 1960, as I remember. My godparents had come to our summer cottage to take bath in sauna, playing cards and drinking strong liquors. I had bought a spinning rod and a big, very expensive pike lure with my savings. I got three pikes from our boat dock in succession, the largest of which was about 2 kg and the others were 1 kg each. I decided to throw the pike lure as far as possible.
Unexpectedly, I saw how the lure flew about 100m and I was happy, but when I started to reel, I noticed the nylon fishline had broken.That's why the lure flew so far away! Immediately a prayer came to my mind and I said it out loud, "Thank you Jesus, for giving me that lure back! Amen." I was surprised of that spontaneous prayer as if someone else in me had prayed (?)
I forgot the case for a year. The following summer, 1961, one Sunday morning, the weather was fully calm and windless. The surface of the lake was like a mirror and I felt the peace of the Holy Spirit within me. While others yet were asleep, I went in a row boat on the lake. When I was about 40 m from the beach on the neighbor's waterfront, it happened to me that I could see all the way to the bottom? I stopped the boat and looked over the side of the boat to the bottom of lake.
So I saw it all the way to the bottom. As I looked at the bottom, the sun's beam hit a bright object at exactly where I was looking. I recognized it as a lure. I pushed the oar into the soft clay bottom as a sign next to the lure, jumped over and picked up the lure by diving. When I looked at the lure, it was the most valuable lure I had lost the previous summer! It had a steel wire bracket I had made myself.
I was sure that Adonai gave me the idea to row and look at just the right place at that time! HalleluYah! I knew exactly I hadn't thrown my pike lure even in that direction.
I saw it flying straight out of our own boat dock and far out 100 m, "jumping many times on the surface of water" to a place almost 10m deep. The place where I found it was about 100 m to the left and only about 40 m from the beach, in less than 3m deep. The lure was not even rusty.
It was completely inexplicable how it had moved to a different place and had not been submerged in soft clay. I couldn't catch the lure first, but I had to dive twice. I still remember Pirkko shouted from the beach back then, "Leif, what's the matter? Did you fall out of the boat?" I replied that all is okay, but I was diving my lure from the bottom.
We also spent part of our summer at our cottage on the island during the 1961-3 summer holidays and went rowing by boat to the mainland. We older children were part-time trainees in the grocery and butcher's shops, and later in 1963, for about a year, I worked at the central warehouse of 13 food stores, the Lohja Station.
We rowed first almost 2 km to the Liessaari bridge and then under it. From there we rowed to the mainland, and from there we cycled to our workplaces. Often the wind on the lake was against us and as we rowed there came calluses and water blisters in the palms of our hands.
One funny case
When I was working at Lohja Station in 1963, we were already living in Siuntio. From there was 12 km trip by bike. The boss gave me 4 big tin cans of anise candy after the inventory for free, each jar containing 2 kg of candies. He said he couldn't influence my salary and thought it was too small of the job I was doing.
He sometimes had sex with women and then he left the work place even at work time. Then I had to receive phone orders, load the ordered goods at the quays, and help truck drivers load them into the trucks.
In addition to anise candies, I also received 2 kg of cardamom, which was outdated like anise candies. As I cycled home, I had them all in my bag, which was on the bicycle rack and I had to cross a small river's bridge. It was in a valley, at the bottom of a steep downhill and just before the bridge there was a pit on the road.
Then I accidentally cycled into the pit and my bag disconnected from the rack and flew several meters and finally fell into the river and floated! I instantly ran after it and managed to lift the bag out of the water. Luckily the anise candies and cardamom didn't get wet!
The work was heavy and sweaty
My work was sweaty especially in the heat of summer. The work was heavy because I had to carry several big sacks of 50 kg of wheat, sugar and salt to the loading bays even daily. I self only weighed 50 kg. Carrying on the big wheat sacks was the most difficult because of their large size it was difficult to get a firm grip round of them.
I got permission from my boss to eat cheese in the cheese cellar and drink Hartwall's Jaffa Lemonade for as often and as much as I could. I couldn't take them home because it would have been stealing. At that time, sugar, flour and salt were sold in big sacks, and candies often by bulk.
Dad got a good occupation
In 1961, with the help of his customer and friend, father got a good occupation as an official in Siuntio, a municipality near Lohja. It was a fortune for him because he got a job as an office manager at the Cooperative (a local bank) without the required qualifications. The name was later changed to the Cooperative Bank. He was exact in financial matters and managed to maintain good customer relationships and worked there until he retired.
At that time, quadruple accounting was in use, and at the turn of the year, the interest on all accounts' capital had to be calculated and handwritten by writing in many different documents. If the accounts' totals had differed just one penny from the right one, we had to check all accounts again. I helped dad with it and once we must all accounts checked again.
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