On May 1, 1932, I returned home. My brothers were also to go out and experience other conditions.
On November 15, 1932, my parents celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. That same winter, I attended gymnastics both in Herfølge and Sædder, and evening classes with my old teacher.
On May 1, 1933, I left again, this time for Lidemark, where during the summer I came to work together with my brother Christian after the farm changed ownership.
That summer was very hot, and we went to Køge Beach at least three times a week and went swimming, the last time on September 29.
As I wanted to get closer to Copenhagen, I gave notice on my position effective November 1, 1933, but fate had other plans. Instead, I went to my uncle in S.
Fun and Games
In the spring of 1934, my younger brother was confirmed.
On the third day of Pentecost, we had a bit of fun. My uncle was ill, but he had sold a haystack to “Tailor Jens” from Vråby, and he and a haulier came to collect it, and I was to help with the loading.
After we had worked for a while, “the Haslev Brewer” arrived, and of course we had to “chat” with him a bit, and meanwhile we emptied a “case of beer,” after which he had to move on. We continued with the hay.
A couple of hours later, the brewer came back, and he was set upon once again, and I rather think the hay became a little damp before we finished loading it. But then again, it had lasted from half past two in the afternoon until nine o’clock in the evening.
The herdsman, who was 45 years old, and I attended the agricultural fair in Køge. We were not together at the fairgrounds, but met just before we were to go home, and he was in very high spirits, as the maid could also see the next morning when the beds were to be made. There was “a large lake” in the middle of the floor.
The following year, the herdsman and my successor, a young farmhand from Strøby, had also been out “carousing” on a Saturday night and came home at 4:30 Sunday morning. The farmhand then helped with the milking and other stable duties, after which they slept until 12 noon and then again until 5 PM, when the farmhand suddenly woke up and thought it was Monday morning.
He then woke the herdsman, who was just as confused, and they agreed that they had better help with the milking, since the cows had not been milked on Sunday evening.
When they came out of the bunkhouse, they saw the maid sitting in the parlor sewing.
The herdsman exclaimed:
“Hasn’t she got anything else to do at this time of day?”
They then grabbed the milk churns and buckets and loaded them onto a wagon. Since the horse was out grazing, they had to pull the wagon themselves out to the cows. When they met the neighbor’s children out on the road, the herdsman exclaimed again:
“Are you already out playing?”
But then, all at once, a “light” dawned on the farmhand, and he realized that it was still Sunday.
On November 1, 1934, my wish was fulfilled, and I came to Vallensbæk near Copenhagen as a foreman on “Enghavegården,” where I traveled to Copenhagen at least once a week, among other places to Halmtorvet, Arena Mill, and to Carlsberg to collect spent grain. We had lively horses, so the trips were nothing but pleasure rides.
When I was 15 years old, I got my first bicycle from “Blacksmith Jørgen” in A., and then the wild chase into the countryside began on Sundays, among other places to Ringsted and Næstved, and in the evenings out to Lilleskov, where the young people gathered.
Once, we came up with the idea of placing “packages” out on the country road with a thin string attached that reached into the woods where we were hiding. When cyclists came by, they would jump off their “steed” and try to pick up the package, but it would move away when they bent down to grab it, and then we would quickly disappear deep into the forest.
We even did it to the Minister of Ecclesiastical Affairs, P. Dahl.