I was born in 1973 in the small town of Villach, situated on the border between Austria and Italy… Just before my fourth birthday I came to Sweden… In 1979, during the time when my parents were going through their divorce, I spent some time with grandma Anna and aunt Elvira in Austria. I have lived permanently in Sweden since 1980, at the age of 7. I still spent all my vacations with my grandma in the Southern Alps. On the border to Slovenia, in the small mining town of Knappenberg, situated at 3,600 feet above sea level, Hannes was formed. Knappenberg became the safe haven of my youth and this is where I have my warmest childhood memories. When the weather was clear we could see the Slovenian peaks from our bedroom window on the second floor. Everywhere you turn there is a stone church with an onion steeple and crucifix and then all the images of Maria in each intersection and every service station. Coal heating was the norm (the thin high area added to the scent in the early morning hours). We boys helped chop wood that was used to light the fire.
It was common for people to have rabbits, hens, and pigs, even lambs, all as a means to stretch the family income some. No vast pastures to raise these animals, only the small backyards behind the small houses. Most people also had a small garden where they grew peas, carrots, lettuce etc. They would even dry their own chamomile and peppermint tea. We hosed out grandma’s toilet with the garden hose. It was only warm in the kitchen where the furnace was; the bedrooms were always cold… Completely different times my friends :). When I was really young, grandma would wash our clothes in the same tub that she later used to wash us off in… In the late 70’s and early 80’s southern Europe was still lagging behind Scandinavia. The great boom and financial growth didn’t come until the end of the 80’s. This also began to bring an end to my childhood’s Austria; with all the cobblestone, open coal furnaces and the fellowship…
If we had to call Sweden we would walk down to the phone booths located next to the local tobacco store. I would walk with grandma to the butcher to get meat, to the bakery to get bread early in the morning. All the men wore hats and the senior ladies would all wear scarfs… Boys would wear pants and girls dresses with stockings – that was just the way it was… Everything was masculine or feminine and the different sexes were strongly defined. After work the men would hang out and chill at the local pub and play cards in the haze from all the cigarettes while most women would not work outside the house… We would go trekking in the mountains with the seniors and spent most of our time playing in the woods… I was safe in Knappenberg and it was a firm place in my otherwise rather stormy upbringing.
We played cards a lot ;) and even like to listen to the under the belt jokes the adults laughed at and all the pirate stories. Family, neighbors, and friends would all cram in to the kitchen until late at night. Simple yet rough humor about everyone and everything; the real blue collar life… We would craft weapons of sort; anything from bow and arrows and slingshots to bombs and crossbows. We would sneak smoke cigarettes, cigars and drank radler (beer and Fanta) and diesel (beer and coke)… We would compete to see who ran the fastest, who could do most push ups. We would cut ourselves with knives just to show how tough we were. We fought a lot… We fought in groups with sticks, picks and old bicycle tubes – kid gang against kid gang… As we grew older we of course made out with girls and destroyed things for older young adults that did not like; we would break windows, key cars and other stupid things; in plain English it is called vandalism ;). As a teenager I would ski a lot and read post war novels by my favorite author Konsalik and then all the western paperbacks that were left behind from my father’s teenage years… I always dreamed of another life and the greatest treasure was a brand new car and a beautiful- as- a-model girlfriend ;)…
I will continue to blog about my childhood during my recovery time…
This was part 1.
See Ya
