Prauliena

It was spring – May – I gave notice and went to Riga to register at the milk factory authority. The manager there was Kersela, who had been a manager himself for many years. He was like a father to me – very friendly and helpful. He suggested that I take a few weeks holiday until a good job comes along as a manager’s assistant. I went home to Digaini, my oldest brother now respected me as an equal. I caught up on sleep and helped with some jobs.

Jan 27, 2010

I have good memories from Prauliena. We were all young: the manager was 27, and the cleaner, Ida Darkevics, was 26-27. Pay was also good; 100 lati and 3 santimi for first-quality butter. This came to 140-150 lati a month, which was good pay at the time (a part-experienced government worker would get 60 lati a month.) Also, all milk products were free: butter, milk, cream, cream cheese, as well as a room and heating. We bought very little; if we made a vegetable soup with lamb we all shared it. I bought all new clothes, the latest fashions; I was a real city boy now, not a country boy. Then I bought a push-bike.

Jan 28, 2010

As bookkeepers we were in a privileged position. On Friday afternoon we wrote our own leave passes and handed them to the adjutant to sign, most weekends we had two days free. The pass was meant to be for the local district only, but I used to go to my last work place – Prauliena. One of the bookkeepers had received a good bicycle from home, so at sunrise on Saturday mornings I used to set out on it. It took two hours to get to Prauliena. There I got dressed in my officer’s uniform and went to balls with my old girlfriends. On Sunday afternoon I set off for the return journey to Krustpils.

Jan 30, 2010

About two weeks later I was notified through the district town hall telephone (there were still no telephones in the country ) that I had a managerial job at Rauza, near Smilene, 15 kilometres towards Polsmane. I went straight away; first to Prauliena to get my things: bedding, work clothes, etc. I arrived at Prauliena in the evening, collected my things and went straight to Madona station. I was very angry with Marija and did not even say good-bye. Rauza was near a main highway in Vidzeme, about 2 kilometres. There to receive me was a committee member, Lacitis, who lived next to the factory. The factory was in the Rauza manor, opposite there was the district town hall, one shop, a blacksmith, and the district hall. It was a small centre. It took only one day to get to Riga. In the morning at 5 AM, a bus on the highway got you to Riga at 8 to 8:30 and in the evening it left Riga at 4 PM. The factory was quite small and was in the process of being changed from manual to steam. The steam generator was already there, but the milk was heated over water which was heated by steam, the same went for the cream in special cans. There were no collection points – all the milk used was brought in by the farmers directly. There were only two of us working; the general worker and the cleaner, a 19 or 20 year old youth, Janis Mietins, very obedient and hard-working, but not too intelligent.

Jan 31, 2010