By Anthony Cheng BBC, London

So the nirvana of four weeks of uninterrupted football has begun.

For fans all over the world it is time to turn off the phone, tune in the TV or radio and enjoy a month of spectacular sporting moments.

But many people who do not have a great affection for football are dreading the next few weeks and, for others, it may well add an unexpected burden to their working lives.

The World Cup may mark the departure of loved ones, an absence of non-sports-related conversation, and the endless search through the television schedules for anything other than the latest updates from South Korea and Japan.

It's a threat to marital bliss

Hotelier Renee Ho

But for those who can afford it, one hotel chain in Singapore is offering a special World Cup widows' package, open to both men and women who need to escape to the luxury of a five-star hotel and enjoy pampering in a football-free atmosphere.

Renee Ho of the Banyan Tree Resorts said the women in her office had discussed how men were going to talk, live and dream about football.

"We thought it's time to address this problem - we think it's a threat to marital bliss," she said.

Freedom from football

"It's once every four years so we're going to live through it together.

"We are talking about spending a vacation away from the World Cup, you know, as far away from it as possible - pick a few widow friends and go to all these very nice, ideal spots, like the Angsana resort and spa in Great Barrier Reef.

"These are places where you can't find much of the World Cup."

For others in the travel industry, however, the World Cup does not provide such welcome marketing opportunities.

Liz Flaherty of Cheapflights.co.uk has noticed a curious four-year phenomenon associated with the football festival.

"It's absolutely amazing the impact it can have on the travel industry," she said.

"There are so many people out there that don't want to travel whilst the World Cup is on.

"And of course it's all very much on how England performs in the Cup because if they get into the next round, then that means somebody will hold off travelling for longer just to make sure that they're guaranteed to be able to watch the football matches."

For non-fans, the balls seem to be everywhere

One country that is sure to be thinking of nothing else but football for the next two weeks is China, where it is estimated that one in three people will be watching on TV.

Keith Bradbury, the director of Wang Guo Chengxing football club in Beijing, said: "The TV audiences will be massive.

"I would say probably 400 million, 500 million. There'll be some truancy, if you like, but I think it is sort of part of the World Cup now that it disrupts the Brazilian stock market."

Half a billion hangovers

But the Chinese national team have taken the unprecedented step of apologising for their poor performance before the competition.

"The manager, Bora Milutinovic, felt the pressure building up and so, in advance, held a press conference to say 'don't get your hopes too high, it's a young team'," Mr Bradbury said.

"If they don't score at all I think you know it's the same as anywhere - disillusionment, a good deal of swearing and maybe a lot worse than half-a-billion hangovers."

Dealing with half-a-billion sore heads is one thing, but trying to calm groups of rioting football fans is quite another.

We pray that all will be well

Nigerian power executive

Nigerian power company Nepa placed a full-page advertisement in the Sunday papers begging for fans' patience in the event of power cuts during key World Cup matches - an all too frequent occurrence.

One fan in Lagos said: "You just like, you know, you have a very palatable dish set on your table and you are salivating and suddenly they just come, take away the food."

Another Nigerian soccer follower said: "My children have already told me to go and buy a generator because of the Nepa failure during the World Cup matches."

A Nepa spokesman said simply: "We pray that all will be well."