When using designer layouts, one must keep in mind that, a view that doesn't need any code interaction, may be used without any further declaration, like labels, that we set once in the designer and don't change within our code, BUT, if views properties are to access in code, then the view must be declared, (dim x as label). Initialisation is not required for designer added views.
The problem is solved, by moving all code in Activity_Create which I had put under If FirstTime outside that If. Apparently I did not understand when FirstTime is true. After carefully reading the information about Lifecycle in the guide, I think that it works as follows:
The (only) Activity is ended with Activity.Finish.
The OS may keep the process alive for some time.
If I restart the app when the process is still alive, FirstTime is false.