Time of arrival
When do you arrive at a party? Are you fashionably late or are you one of the first? Which is the way to go? Magdalena Ribbing, expert in good behaviors and good manners at daily Dagens Nyheter says it all depends. “The time to arrive at a gathering has to do with your cultural background. The Swedish tradition says to come at the exact time, with a marginal for transportation problems and so on, you can be 10 to 15 minutes late. You do not want to arrive any later than that without calling your host with an explanation. To serve dinner five minutes later than the time given is not considered polite, and it is also not practical. Half an hour later is better in that case, that gives the guests a chance to gather and have a drink, and talk while waiting for the food.”

Few are born at the right time
"And the whole world whispering: Born at the right time," so sings Paul Simon. But few Swedes (and most certainly non-Swedes also) are in fact born at the “right” time. Actually only 4.6% of all babies are born at their given due date. Nearly half of them aren’t even born the week prior or after that mystical date. “You always have a certain margin of error,” says Henrik Almkvist, senior physician in Stockholm. New statistics produced by Socialstyrelsen (the National Board of Health and Welfare) shows that the majority of children are born three of four days after their due date, however 44% are born seven days early or late. “An ultra sound in week 17 helps to set the due date,” Almkvist explains. “But to be born two weeks early or late is normal.” Material for statistics over children born early or late has been collected from the Medical Birth Registry from 2008 to 2010, and includes children born in week 37 or later. According to Almkvist, 92% of all children are born two weeks around their due date. A birth is usually stalled if the baby wants to come out a whole month early, and if a child has not been born two weeks after his or her due date, the birth usually has to be induced. “Mothers-to-be are informed that their babies aren’t likely to arrive on their due date, but you still want to have an estimated date, and usually it is reasonably correct. It’s quite amazing how predictable the body is.”

No more helping cats!
Having to deal with cats, takes time away from other kinds of police work, according to the Varmland police, who last year helped out in close to 100 “cat missions”. Catching a cat, escorting it to a vet, and then onwards to a home for stray or abandoned cats can take as much as a whole day for two police officers. Christer Lööf, Deputy Chief Operating Officer at Värmland Police, wants the law to be revised so that the county administrative board gets the responsibility instead, according to a radio report. No more helping cats - it takes too much precious time for Swedish police officers.

Becker wants to meet Wilander
Former German tennis star Boris Becker has become a poker player. "My legs don't move as fast as they used to, but I'm still competitive," Becker, who is known as one of the best tennis players in history, says. And these days it is poker that gets his adrenaline flowing. Becker has, for five years, been a member of PokerStars, a gang of sport stars who play poker, and he’s become a popular player when they tour. “It’s a great passion for me. I am 45 years old, and I no longer play tennis.” In a recent interview, Boris Becker talked about Swedes. “Swedes are nice I like them. Many Swedes know me from the tennis, so we have that relation.” When asked which Swede he’d like to play poker with, he says Mats Wilander and Stefan Edberg: “I’d like to meet them in a poker duel. They are my friends. Real friends. We were not friends when we played tennis, but twenty years later we are. I meet them on tennis tournaments. I was in Båstad last year, and had a nice long chat with Edberg. I meet Wilander all the time.” Does he think he might win over either of them in a poker duel? “I don’t think they play much poker, but regardless, I am a better player than they are,” he concludes.