– Think of all the times I’ve driven over the bridge into the city, and didn’t suspect a thing. On an autumn day in 2009, Hilde Johannessen was the victim of an ever-so-small burglary in her car. After she had finished work and was going out to the car, the window was broken and her purse was stolen. – I was a bit cursed and scared when I saw that the window was broken, I thought why me? Hilde Johannessen quickly arranged for new cards, and the days and years passed. The loss of purse and wallet was eventually forgotten. Photo: Tom Edvindsen / news The case was dismissed by the police, the insurance covered the broken window, and it was only for Johannessen to order new cards and move on with his life. – But I have thought quite a few times about where my purse and wallet went that day. The years passed, and Hilde thought less and less about the event that happened in 2009. Thought it lay there as a memory Fast forward to 2024, and even a little more concretely, until 17 February. The city bridge in Stavanger needs maintenance, and a group of workers are at work. One of them is the northerner Pål Øystein Jakobsen. Pål Øystein Jakobsen was working with maintenance on the city bridge in Stavanger, when he made a strange discovery. Photo: Privat He says that he was in the process of removing a part of a kind of formwork that is between the bridge and land. Can you guess what falls from the joint Jakobsen removes? – I thought that maybe someone had put the wallet there as a souvenir or a curiosity. I have seen that in other places. That someone has written their initials and the like. At first he didn’t quite understand what it was that was cast into the concrete block, but when he saw that it was a wallet he hit on the thread of the lady on the cards. Johannessen answered at the other end, but somewhat skeptically. The pocketbook has, to say the least, become worn and dusty over the past 15 years, but there was no doubt that the contents belonged to Hilde Johannessen. Photo: Tom Edvindsen / news – The strangest phone call she has received – I thought who is calling now? Should I answer or not? I was perhaps a little rude at first, she says, laughing. But when Jakobsen could tell her her name, the date she was born, and that there were two pictures of her children in the wallet, she was convinced. – He told me all my personal information, and in the end I just had to believe him. It was totally weird. Jakobsen thought the whole scheme was very funny, and would like to get the wallet home to its rightful owner. Hilde Johannessen did not believe the man who called to say he had found her wallet. Photo: Tom Edvindsen / news – She was not rude! I understand that she was skeptical. It must be the strangest phone call she has ever received, says Jakobsen. There was nothing of value in the wallet that disappeared in 2009, but Johannessen would like to have it back, and Jakobsen gladly assisted. The children in the pictures in the wallet have now grown up, and the cards have long since been replaced. – I just laughed, the whole arrangement was strange. I didn’t know anything about it being a five-minute drive from my house all these years, she says. Jakobsen believes that the person who stole the wallet saw an open hole and threw it down there. Then it has been cast again. – I have never made a discovery close to this before. You could say it’s special. Hilde Johannessen gave Pål Øystein Jakobsen a bottle of wine as a thank you for the find, and received a good hug in return. Photo: Tom Edvindsen / news 15 years and a nice northerner were all that was needed for Johannessen to finally get his wallet back. – He was an honest person who called me and told me. He got a wine from me and I got a good hug from him.
ttn-69
Hilde’s wallet appeared under the city bridge in Stavanger after 15 years – news Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio
