Praise has been received for ‘Love In Trieste.’ Naturally I will not let this alter my lifestyle of lolling about in the Mediterranean. However, praise is something to face up to and accept, rather than run away and cower from. And I believe I am quite capable of receiving more praise without it having a negative effect on my character. But to clarify, ‘Love In Trieste’ is loosely based on Debussy, though the fictional composer in the story is not Debussy. After all this is fiction, not a documentary. Also, I have never been to Trieste, though I used to know someone called Jon King, who did his National Service with BETFOR, (British Empire Trieste Force) in 1949-50 defending Trieste from the Communist hordes. He told me that if Tito’s armies had ever launched an attack, his small force would, in technical terms, have ‘run.’ Anyway Jon said it was a good depiction of Trieste and so I’ve always left it as that. I hope these bits of information won’t spoil your enjoyment of the for now ‘free’ story, but as Spike Milligan’s dad said to Spike Milligan after waking him up at 3 a.m. to say, ‘I’ve never shot a tiger.’ To which Spike asked, ‘But why do you have to tell me? then said ‘I’ve got to tell someone.’