After 2-3 days I received a letter telling me that I was to start at Valena factory. I told the bakery boss that I was leaving for another job. He was very angry that I had exploited him, but I think it was the other way around. I had been working 16 hours a day. I was not sorry to leave the bakery; even though I had passed the winter in the warmth there and had been well-fed. At that time, after the war, there were no regulations about employment; the bosses could do as they pleased and there were no unions. Also, there were no holidays and I worked six days, except on Saturdays as there was no fresh bread on Sundays.
Valena factory was in a beautiful area with Gauja (a large river) only about 50 feet away. Valena was a village: two shops, a church, some trades people, the milk factory, a pharmacy, and some houses. The bends in the river were particularly beautiful. On the bank there was a very well-tended cemetery, the first time I had seen this. Every day after work I went to swim in the river and sit in the sun. The factory at that time was still quite small. There was only two of us working there; me and the manager Karlis Spunde, about thirty-years-old, a non-drinker and non-smoker. He was quite strict but kind, he treated me as a son and when I did something wrong he taught me the right way. After receiving the milk I had to wash all the used containers and machines. The hardest to wash was the pasteuriser; it was copper, double-walled. It was put in a large pot of boiling water, under which a wood fire was made. To make the butter, electricity was generated to turn the butter barrels and the milk separator.
My pay was 40 lati (about $40AUD), two kilograms of butter a month, and one litre of milk a day. And importantly, the work was finished by 10-11 AM. I slept in a small room above the Jaunzemja shop, approximately fifty meters from the factory. The manager himself only had a small room. My main meal after work was milk soup with dumplings and in the evening, rye bread with butter and a glass of milk. In the morning I did not have time to eat. With the sunrise I had to be up and the first job was to light the boiler to heat the milk and then put all the equipment together.
After about four months the manager suggested I try to get into the theoretical course in Riga. I decided to try, even though I should have worked on the practical side for six months. Because of the shortage of students in the course, I was accepted. All the time I was working I had not spent much money so I had 100 lati saved.
I was now familiar with Riga and went back to the kind, old landlady for accommodation. She was very pleased to see me and my friend from Aizpute was still there.
The curriculum was two months theory of milk products: bacteriology, bookkeeping, machinery, etc. After the theory there was still one month of practical at a factory. Milda Bushmanis and I were sent to a small factory at Birze, past Jekobpils, near the Lithuanian border. When we got there it consisted of a small factory downstairs and upstairs in the attic there was the manager’s room and at the other end a room for the employee. The manager was going to a course as he had no qualifications.
My partner was 25 and I was 18. The room only had one bed and it was December – a lot of snow and very cold. We did not know what to do and the co-operative committee took no notice of us. We did not care much as it was a short-term position so we worked only every second day and then stayed around keeping warm. We were very short of money, our main food was rye bread, butter, sour cream and milk soup with dumplings – most of this was free. For sleeping, the first night we took the mattress of the bed; I slept on the floor and Milda put a blanket on the bed and slept on it. This way we froze as we each only had one blanket. Then we tried sleeping in one bed, each in a separate blanket for one night. Then we just slept together, which was much better. Milda was experienced and was a good sex teacher. We lived like this until the managed returned after 1 ½ months. He did not want to know how we had managed and just gave us our pay. I had some money and for the first time I went to Digaini for a visit home. My brothers and sisters were impressed by my adventures. Even Adam was kinder as I had showed that I could be independent and that I had a good future as a milk factory manager. The certificate for this was in my pocket and jobs were waiting as there were still shortages.
It was winter – February – when I got a notice that the only job at the moment was at Annemieka factory in the Tukums district near Lestene and Rumbus hotel. The nearest town was Dobele, about twelve kilometres away. I was a cream collection manager. The actual cream collective was in the Rumbus hotel until the factory could be opened. It was a rough pub at a crossroads’ stopover and it was built like the old manor houses from split stone. The land around was very flat. The farms were all very prosperous and the farmers conceited. The pub had been allocated to a blacksmith who had lived and worked there. He was very well-off and owned another farm as well. His name was Barons and he had two daughters and a son. The oldest daughter was married and the son was in national service. So, there were only four of us in the large building: myself, the two parents, and their daughter Guste who was a 25-year-old, slim blonde. At first the room I used was on the street side; very light, newly painted and with a built-in stove so that I could do my own cooking. As it was winter I was keeping my room nice and warm. Guste was coming in to warm herself and this led to some kissing until we found ourselves in bed.
I had only taken this job as a temporary one because the pay was not very good and my work was only six hours. I was looking for a job as an assistant in a large factory with many employees so that I would not be so lonely. I could not manage a factory myself yet as I needed more experience and had to be 21-years-old. Also, my relationship with Guste was getting a bit serious so I thought it would be best to get away. She was so much in love that she spent all the time being near me and in my room.
