04.The important mentors who made my Epileptic Journey possible. (Article 5 of the history of my epilepsy.)

Torsten Tegnér (TT) and Birger Buhre (BB)

Thousands of opinion chronicles, I've read of these two giants of Swedish sports journalism. Both were pronounced leadership types, and their words were for many years, my law. They gave me verbal ammunition to use in heated debates with fans from both sporty as ‘unsportsmanlike’ background. That they then despite the disparity between the lifestyle they represented, the one, TT, ascetic exercise addict but gourmet and the other, BB, bothered by smoke and alcohol consumption and the tendency of a gourmand, respected and admired each other,  made my world seem wide and “secure”.

Both, especially TT, replied to my letters (which I sometimes wrote, in particular, verse form), with personal responses, dedicated newspaper cuttings and memoir books. Both have during a lifetime helped to keep me on track, and they taught me both to lead myself and make independent decisions. It is sometimes easy to forget the influence they exercised over my well being.

Thor Ohlsson

Jonsson, Sternhagen was my employer for four years, which happened to coincide with my Sturm und Drang period. We formed the Malmö branch of a Gothenburg company, and we imported plasterboard from Ireland, glazed roof tiles from Holland, laminates from England plus sold also flooring tiles from Kallinge. My boss was managing director Thor Ohlsson, who was a tall fancy, reasonably organized charmer and star salesperson with summer house at the coast. He had before his sales career graduated in the evening and was an accomplished handball player. Thor was as a talented negotiator and taught me how to sell. My selling was done mainly by telephone since Thor was mostly on the move or ‘sat at the Residence Schweizeri, on Adelgatan with customers’.

The reasons Thor put up with me for four years were due to the facts that I sold well and was very popular among the flooring and construction companies we worked with and my official monthly salary was low. I could stand Thor because he had all the patience with me which my father lacked. He shared in great my sympathy for TT, BB and SH (SH was the legendary editor of SDS, Sven Hansson). He thanked me every time I brought home an order of glazed tiles for a luxury home or had solved a problem with a delayed shipment to a frustrated builder. He took me to fairs and various gimmicks, which was not usual those days. We made up a cash report, which was my responsibility, for transmission to the headquarters every month and the records were never up but that Thor took with equanimity, and he solved the problem / difference with a ‘miscellaneous receipt’. The same thing with the office and especially mine looked like a knockout even though we weekly had a cleaning lady, but never a criticism just a proposal like ‘we'll probably tidy little Jan Åke’, Billy, the owner from Gothenburg, is supposed to come down.’

Thor gave me both the social and emotional support and suffered with me when I developed epilepsy. Some time after that I started with epileptic medication so changed my outlook on life and my nightly adventures, which I often slept off for an hour or two with my head against a newspaper or a magazine, gradually became a closed chapter. When Thor on one occasion said something which I in a sensitive mood perceived as an irony, I exploded and beat my fist on the table in front of Thor, and said: ‘devils now enough is enough,’ and so I went home. It was a very relieving feeling and emerged afterwards as one of my most important and crucial decisions in life!

Thor called later and said that I was well come back if I wished and if not then I would at least come back and get my salary. I went for the last time to the Norra Vallgatan 88 in Malmö and collected my final pay. Thor at the same occasion gave me a painting by his cousin Alf Ohlsson (who is represented at the Swedish National Museum) with a friendly dedication. A good memory, which still hangs with me, from a fine fellow who made my youth revolt took place under relatively controlled conditions with someone who cared about me.