Border guard laundry

"In 1952 I came to Kolka from Vīdale Cirsti, at that time there were about 40 houses. At first I lived in such a small house next to the old school, we had four families there and were dictated. down, I live in the “Market Fields.” I lived there for 3.5 years and then I came here, to the “Priests.” I have been here since 1956 and in this apartment (2nd floor) since 1962.
My sister worked at the Kolka post office, I didn't have a job and my husband didn't, because we divorced, because he was just like me - yes and no. And then there is no better than it is. I don't even think that it will be difficult for me alone, I have to send two children to school. But I commit, I need it and everything. At first I went to help the fishermen with the fish, right here for Victor Berthold.
Then I started washing the laundry for the Russian border guards, they brought me that laundry. The head of the post office, Krasnovaya, and my sister persuaded me to take up the job because the border guards were interested in not knowing anyone who washes the laundry. I could already speak something in Russian, but I could not write and fill in documents. We met Starsin at the post office and agreed. Before me, one woman from Pitraga was washing her clothes. That's how I started working on March 1. Those soldiers who brought me their laundry told me why you do not ask for an apartment in Kolka, because the apartment in the house is vacant. At first I was submissive, but once I got the salary, I started asking.
So on October 20, 1956, I came here. The apartment on the first floor of the house was quite awful, the windows were collected from German bunkers, one window bigger, the other smaller, there was no view. But this was considered an ownerless house, now the house belongs to the Kolka Orthodox Church. Russian officers lived here. The room was cold, the children were small for me, the youngest did not go to school yet, but the oldest went to school for the first year. There was only a stove and a chimney upstairs, but no shutter or oven to keep the heat longer. Before Dr. Marcenko lived here, her husband was a lieutenant in the border guards. There was a room with the boards off, but how the doctor lived here was amazing. After that, they went to live in Kolka's "Christ". At that time, there was already a small hospital in Kolka, where the doctor also worked.
Wash underwear for 40 border guards: shirts, pants, underwear, bedding, leggings. The border guards did not have to wash their uniforms. It was difficult to wash the cloths, because they were already terribly worn in the cherry boots.
Well, in order to tidy up their apartment in some way, they cheated and I got paper boxes from the factory, then I used to knock down the middle wall so that there were no bare boards. The main thing for me to have the laundry where to dry, I had tightened two cords in the room, one up along my bed, the other along the other side. Down in the hallway, I built a boiler where I can heat those waters. I had been washing outside all the time, the big pot hung on my hook and I was cooking the laundry there.
I gave the powder, but it was little, I bought it myself later. The dose was 8-10 grams per kilogram. It was thought that the sheet weighs 250 grams, but clean. Each time the laundry was not weighed. At first I received a salary of 15 rubles a month. That's how we three people made a living with that money. As you wish, it lives. I also couldn't go to the factory because I had nowhere to put those kids. There was already a school here next to us, so I could look after them. Then when the officers went to the new house, I was in the second floor apartment.
The officers kept pigs in the barn near the house, after a while I made a laundry instead, built a stove, but that's all, the steamers are already heating and I don't need anything more. Rubber boots on the feet day and go.
At first there was no electricity, then I ironed with carbon irons - pleaters. My acquaintances were told what they had done so horribly with their ironing. I folded and pressed those sheets, but I ironed my shirts, pants and pillowcases. I had such small bowls in brown, folded and pressed. Each time already came out 80 sheets, two sheets from each bed.
So for about 3-4 months I washed for those 15 rubles a month. But the starchina was so normal, he wrote down something I needed, for example, about the cook's clothes, he counted that I washed them every day. The main reflection was that I and my children were allowed to eat both lunch and dinner, because three people could not eat with 15 rubles.
It was already difficult to spread all the laundry on the board, I already rubbed about four boards. The craziest thing was drying, especially in winter. They do not dry out, freeze and everything. I also dried outside, as well as in the barn, at the end of the school, where there were horses and pigs. Going through the horse stable, there was a gym, and in winter it was the most common clothes dryer. But I had to take it back and forth every day, so I wore it half-frozen, rolled 10 sheets on my shoulder and walk across the field. After that I dried in front of the Kolka Lutheran Church "Vagari" near Dzidra Bērziņa, but there I had to carry up the stairs to the attic. Then there was such a vag behind the church, now it is no more, I have dried there too. There is almost no house in Kolka where its laundry would not be dried. Then I was able to take the laundry and dry it, now not because I lacked strength, but because there are no more people in Kolka to trust, because the laundry can be stolen.
There were already four cords laid out right up to the church, then, if it is hung on Monday in winter, then it dries up by Thursday. It's easy in summer.
The officers did not have to wash their clothes, they washed themselves.
I was already dull, for a while I also washed the clothes for the sailors, they were about 16. The sailors' striped shirts wash easily, but they are tarpaulins, they are already like trees. I did not wash them by hand. They brought their washing machine "Tula", I also washed one suit at a time. Sometimes those outfits were dictated, but I already wanted to get clean. After that I also washed the builders, they were around 30. I also washed the lighthouse people for a while. I carry the water from the well by hand, it all had to be brought in and poured out. The most difficult thing was cutting the laundry by hand.
To get the underwear white, I used silicate glue, it was sold in 0.5 l bottles, it was taught to me by a friend from Siberia. I had a large pot in which went 16 buckets of water and on that pot present one bottle of silicate glue, then the linen turns very white. I washed one pot every day, on Sundays I tried to arrange it freer. At first I also bought laundry fine, it was cheap.
After a while, a good washing machine was brought, but it was not intended for the countryside, because it had to be connected to the water supply and sewerage, but there is no such wardrobe in this house today. After that, a washing machine "Riga-8" was brought to me, but only handkerchiefs can be washed there, not clothes for armies.
That's how I worked for 28 years, until 1984. I started washing when I was 30 and finished washing when I was 58 years old. I retired at the age of 77, all the time I worked in two jobs, in addition to being a guard, in a bakery.
The working day started at 4 in the morning, then I went to heat the big pot, then prepared breakfast for the children, took me to school, washed the laundry, then went to the bakery for 12 and worked until 17. Ironing again in the evening.
I had one such friend from the soles. For him, my mother came from Leningrad to visit and lived here for about two weeks, brought me all kinds of gifts and invited me to visit for the new year. I had never set foot in Riga, but now I went to Leningrad, I was a little over 40 years old. How dumb the mind can be to man! Took me to all the beautiful places of the Hermitage, Petropavlovsk. I myself would not have been able to go anywhere, I did not have such money or opportunity. They already paid me the trip and covered all the living expenses. That's how we each stayed in our own country, because I didn't want to live together in another country, I don't want to meet in the city at all - yes.
The army treated me humanely, even when I killed a pig, I was always given a piece of meat.
No more private were employed. The border guards collect the animals themselves. At first they had three horses, we called a common horse, later the horses were eliminated. In the last ten years, there have been no pigs for border guards.
The officers were mostly all Ukrainians, they were already economical and diligent. Siderenko, Ushnarenko - it was a real working dwarf, in the autumn he had procured cabbage and other things, the basement was always full for him. These were things that were additionally given to the soldiers. He pickled the apples. In large barrels, layered rye straw and apples, then poured sweet and sour brine on top. The apples were very tasty, they didn't rot in the barrels, but they tasted good. "