ABBA’s Agnetha was scared to death, when her little daughter Linda was hanging across the side of the wildly shaking speedboat. If the child would go overboard, she would surely drown. Because neither Linda, nor her mother Agnetha, could swim...The blue water was flashing by and the waves were splashing against the ultra-fast boat. With his eyes half-closed to the bright glow coming from the water, Björn Ulvaeus was standing at the wheel, speeding up the boat. He was thrilled zooming across the big lake, to shake off all the dust from the travelling with ABBA and feel free. Behind him were Agnetha and little Linda, surely enjoying themselves as much as he did. Indeed, Agnetha was enjoying this ride as well. With her eyes closed, her face turned to the hot sun, she sat at the back of the boat and relaxed... no recordings, no worries, just the water, Björn and Linda. Absent-minded Agnetha reached for Linda, who had just been sitting next to her on the bench. She wanted to pat her blonde hair, and give her a hug. It had been so long since they we’re together, the three of them... But Agnetha’s hand reached for air. In shock she opened her eyes, looked around her, and saw her enterprising daughter hanging across the side of the boat dangerously. At the same time Björn speeded even more and the boat started shaking. “Linda!” Agnetha yelled. “Linda! Come here!” But little Linda thought the water was far more interesting, she didn’t even hear her mother, bended over even more to reach for the water flashing by. Agnetha was terrified. If Linda would go overboard, she would be lost for sure, because no-one of the young family could swim! “Stop,” Agnetha yelled at Björn, while she held on tight to the side of the boat with one hand, and grabbed her daughter by her pants...
When the boat finally came to a halt, after little Linda was made clear that she could never hang across the side of the boat like that again, and her startled parents had catched their breath, Agnetha and Björn immediately made a wise decision. “We will never take to the water without lifejackets again! That’s asking for trouble!” And with their lifejackets on, is how we met the ABBA-company, Annifrid, Benny, Agnetha, Björn and little Linda, when we went to see them on their holiday-island at Mälar-lake, near Stockholm. Dressed safely in their solid lifejackets, they took to the water on their daily sail- and speedboat-rides, and those things only came off when they were on steady ground again. “Say, why don’t you learn to swim?” we asked as real Dutchmen, after having watched them handling their lifejackets clumsily. Four pairs of wondering eyes looked at us. And after a moment of silence, Benny said: “Well, you have a point. We didn’t even think about that!” Until the time they all have learned to swim, they will probably be walking around in their lifejackets. After all, it’s safety first for the four musical Swedes!
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