Sweden. Why do they seem to get everything right?

[Tinker]

Or do they? Who knows more details about the country that is always quoted re bf rates, banning of smacking, decent benefits etc.? What price are they paying for this? I know income tax if high but are salary levels higher? anyone?

Do continue......

Moondog, do let me know! But trust me, most of the crayfish are not scooped from the rivers of Sweden but bought from the freezer section of the supermarkets of Sweden. Much as we could do here if we wanted to have an evening of consuming limited amounts of shellfish and cheese on top of an absolute shedload of vodka and aqvavit.

Re: suicide, no-one I knew seemed particularly suicidal, I'm sure they used to claim it was Finland with the suicide rate.

Re: closing the booze shop before the bank holiday, I am not sure I remember them doing this whilst I was there, but they have got ultra-liberal - you are allowed to walk round and pick up the booze yourself now intead of having to browse through a catalogue and order at the counter in the manner of Argos and/or Russian shops in the Communist era.

they made a bit of a bad job of accepting my credit card once, does that count?

I will tribpot.
(Glad you mentioned the Argos/Russian thing. Having lived in Russia I psml everytime I go into Argos,which admittedly is not often.)

I've just got back from 2 weeks of Sweden with the Sweden-is-fab MIL. The booze shops were still ticket/catalogue/booze in glass cabinet in the towns we visited. It all seemed a bit dull

Shopping was rubbish despite visiting some massive mall. Hospitality was okay but they don't offer drinks on arrival so I was gasping for a cuppa the whole time.

On the plus side everyone is blonde. Negative was I didn't feel blonde enough

One of my friend's went out with a Swedish girl and went there to visit her.
On arrival,she told him that he would be staying in her flat alone as she had to stay with her father (same bed!) because he had a bad back.
Not agreat start.

Then,on his second night,they went out with her friends and he foolishly piped up with 'My round!'
Spent nearly all his holiday money in about 5 mins.

The romance didn't last...

Blonde - in the winter, the Swedish ladies dye their hair brown - fact. In the summer, they 'dye' their skin brown with what can only be termed excessive sunbathing. Seriously, either Sweden in the Country Skin Cancer Forgot or they really need to address this issue. (Esp my Swedish friends who have now moved to Australia).

Can't believe there are still some towns doing the ticket/Argos thing, where were you?

We were in the south. Trelleborg was definitely an argos style job, one in Malmo was a ticket and counter thing but might have had some stuff you could pick up and take to the desk. I was having a strop at DH so left at that point.

One thing surprised me, given how law-abiding they are, nearly everywhere we went all the parent child car parking was occupied by those without kids, grrr!

Forgot to mention - they sell car seats 2nd hand there even in baby stores which I understand is a no-no in the UK

tribpot - very interesting stuff. Will come back to this later.