SWEDISH SOJOURN (Part One)

Having revealed in my last post that back in 1967 at the age of 21, I had the need to place an advertisement in a Gothenburg newspaper, I had better explain the circumstances.

I had met a lovely Swedish girl called Anna while she was on an exchange visit to Bristol but sadly, though we had become close, she had to return home to Gothenburg. I was desperate to go to Sweden and pursue our relationship.

I resolved to emigrate to Sweden but discovered that they weren't letting anyone in unless they were on a short list of trades such as plumbers, electricians etc. I was none of these. Then I spotted that at the bottom of the list were 'au pair' girls. I thought 'Why should au pairs be girls?'

So I placed a small advertisement in a Gothenburg newspaper advertising my services as an au pair boy. Luckily for me, the editor of the paper thought this was newsworthy and wrote to me asking for more details and a photograph. Yes that's me aged 21. They used this to produce a full page story in their paper.

As a result of this coverage, I was inundated with job offers. I eventually chose a family in which the wife was a manageress and about to give birth. She wanted to continue her job soon after the birth so I was to look after a new-born baby. Her husband was a jazz saxophonist with his own band.

I suppose I do look a little like a Beatle in my photo and the Swedish girls must have thought so too because I also received around 150 offers of quite a different sort!

But my heart was lost to Anna and very soon I would be able to join her and live happy ever after in Sweden....at least, that was the plan. I soon learned that the best laid plans often work out very differently.