Stories

Olavi Laitala was about ten years old when his family and neighbours got electricity. The moving spirit behind the electric power line was Johannes Jalander. Laitala takes a trip down memory lane: “My own first experiences of electricity are from the 1950s. I remember that we had a flat torch and a battery-operated radio at home. There was no electrical connection in our house. On the granary roof of the neighbouring farm, Jalander, there was a small windmill. It was used for charging the battery that served – as I recall – as the power supply for the radio. From the times I visited the parish village, I remember the electric lights that seemed extremely bright and fantastic to me. In those days, I didn’t understand yet what electricity is, where it comes from and how it works.” (Laitala 2017, 47)