For any guy that ever said...

Here's some interesting news for all you male football fans out there...

"Women account for 38 percent of football fans"

According to that article, its a market that is un-tapped and which has huge potential. Female football fans are a tad bit different than male football fans... apparantly they have "a strong interest in fashion and clothing"... hmmmm.. David Beckham anyone??? sooo... you telling me that women were interested in football and fashion before david beckham... back in the days of the gorgeous Peter Beardsley...





Thought it best to find a picture where it clearly illustrates which one Peter Beardsley is... just in case... nothing wrong with Peter Beardsley, he was a great player... but fashionable... hmmm.. think women would tune in to watch him play?!?!?... some yes, but the ones that are interested in Fashion and Clothing... (((shrugs))) who knows... not here to make judgements :-)



a quick google search of david beckham dress gave me this frightening outcome...




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However little this interests me.. it clearly interests someone cause you could find it all over the place......So clearly someone has thought about the potential... clearly there's money to be made... business opportunity... ebsiflutely... (absolutely x 1000)

Still, what strikes me is that 38 percent is very high... when you go into a pub or sports bar around the world to follow your team, the majority of the punters are men...

when you go to a footie match there is not a 6 to 4 men to women ratio (except for in Sweden and possibly the other Scandinavian countries... why?.... i don't know ... still investigating) ... the ratio is more like 8.5 to 1.5... (the .5 included to be politically correct of course in case someone is half-half)

but you know what... I think I've figured it out... at game time... while all the men are watching the football... in pubs, at the stadiums... where the bejeezus are the women??? ahhh yes... they are shopping... and you know whats on the TV's in the shops??? that's right.. FOOTBALL... no man would ever know...

Ah the wonderful business of SPORT!!!

Bill gates ...

He can laugh at himself...:-D This is not the only example of this... there's plenty... He comes across as quite a normal guy for being the Richest man in the world. A bit like Ingvar Kamprad (the founder of IKEA)...

So why am I writing about this? Cause not only did I think this was an interesting story... but it kind of also connects to my day... I've been contacted by two recruiters, one of which was in IT/Telecom and the other Luxury Jets for Billionaires companies... :-) got these calls since updating my profile on Monster.co.uk this morning... Despite writing clearly that I'm looking for opportunities in sports, they have contacted me anyway.. unfortunately neither of the roles were of interest to me for different reasons but I'm open to listen to opportunities that may be interesting at the moment and if that is in a different industry at the moment, so be it... primary goal is still Sports but I believe that there are many chapters in life and who knows what may come...

Much like Bill I have a goal... might be a bit different at the moment than his... but the important thing is to have that goal ... how you get there is the fun part

The buildings, the cleaners, the bikers and the blackberry

Needed to get out of the flat Saturday... confinement is no good and it breads lethargic behaviour... Anne and I decided to take a wander to what most weekdays is a busy bustling part of London, Canary Wharf... an area neither Anne nor I had ever been to before...


The large skyscraperesque buildings that are Canary Wharf are an alternative financial center to London City... modern buildings built up when times were good to accommodate the growing demand... now when times are... _________ (I'll let you fill in that depending on what mood your in)... whats funny is that today as you wander the streets of London and look upwards at the office spaces left and right, what strikes you now is that there are lots and lots of empty desks everywhere... This is London! One of the largest business centers of Europe, where there are more opportunities than in most parts of Europe... but yet the emptiness is ghostly... and according to "experts" likely to continue this year... As there is already enough negativity out n about I'm going to try to refrain from adding to it... :-) Instead, I'd like to think of how much easier this has made life for Cleaners.. who still need to clean the same spaces because dust doesn't only congregate around people but anywhere there is empty space, now the cleaners of london aren't disturbed by people... aren't forced to clean up for a lot more, the desks are clear...:-) so their life is easier:-)

Continuing on the Canary Wharf story... it was a lovely but coolish day yesterday... and looking out over the skyline of London along the Thames... I thought to myself...

I thought...despite not having a job... despite the rollercoaster ride that this is... despite all the slightly more difficult aspects of this move and such, I'm really just as excited and positive to this move as I was when I first made the decision, as when I first moved here and throughout... This is the right move for Anne and myself, this is the right place, London is bustling, London is exciting, London is opportunity... London is Challenging... and I'm in the group of people that believes that without Challenge, life is nothing...

What I add is that I'm so happy to have Anne here... she is an inspiration to me and helps me get through the days even though at times this past week I was überly stressed ... the stresses that come with moving to a different city are multiplied greatly when neither has a job and when times are tough... and while nothing can be rosey every second of every day... I much prefer to have her here than not.. I'd much prefer to start out like this and be here for eachother when we move to a new city than to hardly ever see one another (which might have been the case if we both had gotten hard-core jobs from the start)... we're still working on finding a good balance of alone time and quality together time though... but I'm sure we can find it...


The week that went...

This week I applied to a number of jobs at the 2012 Olympics, got one rejection from one from them... was meant to meet with a woman who works with MC SAATCHI (a sports agency)...

In a change of strategy, I applied to my first non-sports related role... a role at Research in Motion (The makers of the Blackberry)... having read the profile they were looking for, I can confidently say that I have first hand strong experience from all of them... but competition these days is an absolute KILLER!!! But similarly, somebody's got to get the jobs... might as well be me... ey... I will continue to attempt to get my foot into the Sports event Management side but keep a bit of an eye on other opportunities too... I'm gagging to get back into some work...

I also read in an Economist article from 3rd January 2009 (pg 10) something that reminded me of things learnt in the past... Its about our generation and how we function...

"The Net Geners have grown up with computers; they are brimming with self-confidence; and they have been encouraged to challenge received wisdom, to find their own solutions to problems and to treat work as a route to personal fulfilment rather than merely a way of putting food on the table. Not all of this makes them easy to manage. Bosses complain that after a childhood of being coddled and praised, Net Geners demand far more frequent feedback and an over-precise set of objectives on the path to promotion ... Having grown up in good times, Net Geners have laboured under the illusion that the world owed them a living. But hopping between jobs to find one that meets your inner spiritual needs is not so easy when there are no jobs to hop to."

Its all a bit like looking in a mirror obviously because thats the way I live and the way a lot of people I know look at things... Its about finding that balance though...

Much in the same way, Thursday night we found a balance of looking for work and taking it easy by going to my friend Emma's place for dinner with her flatmates Gemma and John. Lovely food (Fajitas)... a lot of wine... lots of laughs and good stories... (among other things about Paul McCartney, Brian Adams, Oasis and Tony Blair... put those four(ish) in a room and a camera and see what happens ey:-))


This week that comes will see some interesting events... will try to meet up with the woman from MCSaatchi who couldn't meet last week. Meet up with an old classmate Lynn Svensson if possible, go to a Birthday party for Alex (Gemma's bf) on Friday and it all starts tomorrow morning at 7 am with trying to get tickets to Chelsea v Hull for 7th February when my friend Anders comes to town... Anne's got an important meeting on Thursday with a top Modelling agency (can't remember the name right now...)

Never got to the bikers so i'll keep that for later... grrr... bikers!!!

I'll leave you with this picture... they say that you should picture yourself where you want to be in order to be successful. Seeing as the head offices of the London 2012 Organising Committee is in Canary Wharf, thats just what I've done...

London... creativity central...

This week in London, Liverpool Street Station, the station anyone that comes from Stansted will arrive at was turned into a dancing hall for 3 minutes where daily commuters and individuals were met with a choreographed dance routine... See the film below... its an advert for T-Mobile...



In these times of trouble, its nice to do something fun, and random... that gets smiles on peoples faces... yes it isn't the first nor the last time something like this will happen and some may argue its not even super creative (as its been done before) but I love it nonetheless... and that so many random people joined in as well... priceless...

Positive news from Thursday was a news release on the London 2012 (Olympic website... London2012.com). It said:

LOCOG (London Organising Committee Olympic Games) will double in size in 2009 and will have a workforce in the thousands at the time of the Games.

As I would love to work on the Olympics it is good news that they are expanding and looking for people. I've already applied for two jobs there so hopefully there will be a position for me there somewhere. It's quite crazy to think that the LOCOG has been functioning since 2005 when London were awarded the rights to host the olympics!!! 7 years to put on the games, but it does take a lot of time, work, effort etc.


On a more social note, Friday night saw me meet up with two old classmates from my high school days in Belgium... Bernie and Gemma with their respective partners. We were due to try out this incredible Japanese restaurant in Camden. Expectations were high on the food but we'd been warned that the interior decor wasn't up to scratch but well worth the food. And I can tell you the food DID NOT DISAPPOINT... it was incredible... amazing. Great food. The place is called Asakusa (http://www.timeout.com/london/restaurants/reviews/895.html).

It's a super busy place. We booked a week in advanced and while there it did take quite some time to get the food but its well worth the wait. We didn't go there to have a quick meal. There are plenty of places like YoSushi where you can get instant sushi.. but this stuff was IMPECCABLE:. mmmm... we had a wide variety of different things including Sushi, sashimi and maki as an appetizer and for the main meal I had teriyaki beef... it was mmm mmm... Alex (Gemma's bf) had soft deep fried crab... a definite purchase if you like seafood...

All in all, a hell of a lot of food plus 2-3 beer and it finished at 34£ per person. Not bad. We were there for about 3 and a half hours too. Definitely recommend it but you have to book at least a week in advance as it gets really busy. (even for a weeknight). Filled with Japanese as well which is always a good sign.

Today (Sunday) Anne is working and I'm going to have a fairly quiet day... as has become tradition, I like to buy the Sunday Times and read through them. The paper has everything... it's literally a novel every Sunday... and for only 2£ its value for money a long long way.

Have a nice Sunday wherever you may be...

Quiet over London yonder...

It's been creepily quiet from my side the past week since I got back to looking for work. For that I apologise. I reckon a few of you might want a bit of a recap of the week that's gone.


Its gotten back to the old swing of things. Anne has a little desk in Mathilda's room and I'm sitting in my desk (in the kitchen). Its quite good as whenever you need a quick coffee/tea break you can sneak on into her room and find the company I was sometimes missing in the first few months. On the tougher side, it has been awfully quiet on the job front. Yes there are still a lot of jobs being advertised and I've already sent out a number of applications to different jobs, but I have not heard back from them, I have not heard back from people I contacted before christmas and I have not heard from people I have emailed. Not a single word. It seems as though everyone has climbed into a little shell. Calling is obviously the best thing to do in such situations but its incredible how many meetings are going on at any one time around London. So CV's are swarming around out there, people are getting contacted... for everyday that goes the stress becomes that little bit more... Remaining patient, remaining optimistic still... yet it's always nice with some confirmation that one exists. Its always nice with an interview here or there, a talk with someone over a coffee, a call from someone... It really is about putting yourself in the next gear, keeping on going, never giving up... but its easier said than done...

As for Anne, I would say she's started extremely brightly. She has already met with one photographer and a crew of models and make up artists, and already had her first day shoot (last sunday). In the upcoming days she has a number of jobs, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Most unpaid but the contacts she's making are priceless and she's getting photos out of them and practicing and in a great mood. I'm extremely pleased that she's doing well and seemingly enjoying it to the extreme.


This past weekend, a friend of ours from Malmö came to town... Landgren... together with his lovely girlfriend. We went to a pub just off Covent Garden called the Roundabout and then ventured into SOHO to a place called Thirst where my sister avec friends were hangin out... great catching up with Landgren, hearing about the old workplace and some of the old colleagues. Brushing up on my Swedish which Anne quite rightly points out is deteriorating quite quickly... :-) It's funny how quickly one can lose a language if one doesn't use it all that much... by losing I don't mean that I can't speak it, I mean that it takes more effort:-)


On Sunday it was time for the ole Chelsea v Man Utd battle (in footie (soccer)), one in which Chelsea largely disappointed us all but its great being in England because one gets a lot more excited about the English league. By one I of course mean me because I know a lot of people who are super excited about it around the world, but I like the fact that I follow it week in week out now much more easily even knowing who they are playing next... Saw it with Mathilda, Simon and a group of others... now I must wait until next season or possibly the Champions League or FA cup to see us defeat the mighty reds:-)


Two things I've realised this past week...

1) its important to eat breakfast... if you don't eat a good breakfast you're screwed for the rest of the day...

2) exercise does wonders... I went out for a run this morning and although you lay there first thinking should I? Should I really? ... but it felt great... unfortunately every morning you're going to feel the same... but it really makes the day go by so much easier:-)

Anne is going to join a gym that is literally 100 meters down the road (location location location)... and while at first sceptical about it... I'm starting to soften to the idea. It would be great to get the exercise and who knows when you'll get the time to attempt to really get into shape once you start to work and don't have the time anymore... its all about using it though... cause its not cheap...



To conclude, I'd like to say a little something about the weather. Last week, the weatherman on BBC announced that it was the coldest day in London for over a decade (at -1 degrees celcius)... people were complaining (heck, i was complaining)... but it says quite a lot about how cold it gets in London in the winter time... the rest of Europe is experiencing -15 or -25 and London is freezing over at -1... it's all relative though I suppose...

So that was my little rant for now... I hope this finds you all well...
until next time...

Back to Business...2009

Happy New Year from Anne and myself from a freezing London...


First let me say how SUPER happy I am that Anne's finally made the big move to London. Two months without her here in London was no fun at all ... But now she's here and looking to build her reputation so anyone with contacts in the fashion industry or in the need of a super duper talented make-up/hairstylist professional... please contact us. Anyone with any contacts in the Sports Event management field is also more than welcome to contact me of course still :-)


So... 5th January, back to Business for the majority of people around the world except maybe in Sweden where tomorrow is a national holiday and thus a lot of people will start again properly on Wednesday!!! And thus it was time for Anne and myself to slowly start the job hunt process once again.... :-) Time to burn those thousands of meatballs and prinskorvar (cocktail type sausages) away by exercising the mind... slow start though with not a lot of opportunities posted over the holiday period and people just gettin back to work but a bit of reading to catch up on from industry websites...

I'm feeling really confident that great opportunities will present themselves this quarter despite what the news keeps telling us all... the three week break I've just had with a little over 2 weeks in Belgium was much needed... last year I took only 5 days of holiday before leaving Sweden and immediately upon arriving in London I begun looking for work, a full-time job with the stresses accompanying them... I have over the past few weeks been able to almost completely forget about the fact that I'm looking for work and concentrate on recharging my batteries and feel much fresher for it. I don't see any guilt in being job-hunting and taking some time from it especially during a time that is renown for having little activity :-)

One of the great things with having Anne here is that we can take nice little wanders around London if and when we feel like it... the choices are endless though which ultimately creates its own problems... and the cold weather doesn't really invite to long walks... or does it... :-) everywhere you go though in London today there is a sale of some kind... 70% off... 40% off.... buy two get one free... despite the fact that the Swedish Krona has weakened against the EURO and Dollar... its seldom been as cheap to buy GBB with SEK... so should see a great many visits from Sweden in the not so distant future. . . :-)

I hope everyone has had a good first day back at work and I look forward to telling you more about my Journey in London this year.