Sorry about the delay – I was caught up in the storm on the Swedish west coast yesterday, and we had several power cuts, and I had to prioritize other things for once in my life. V;(oo);V
But then again, thanks to that trip, everyone who is near Gothenburg can go to Blå Stället in Angered and read the still unpublished next four pages of Driftwood in the comics exhibition in the main hallway. V^(oo)^V

The Neptune shipyard in Walker, Newcastle, was closed down in 1988. I might have chosen a less iconic shipyard for Willie’s dad’s workplace, but its location and the year it closed down fit perfectly for the story.

I’m not at all sure if the tower blocks in the Chandless estate have “prepay” heating — a system that’s still quite common in Britain, where you put coins in a box to pay for your heating. If it turns out it doesn’t, I can always say that they used to live somewhere else with prepay heating, and only moved to Chandless later when they eventually were granted a council flat …

Willie’s mum works for a certain oil company that I’m not going to name. Maybe she would later be involved in that corruption case in Iran 2002/2003 …?

For people “defecting” from behind the Iron curtain around that time (1978 or so), the Yugoslavian border to Austria, Italy or Greece was a popular way out, as it wasn’t as tightly guarded as other Eastern block borders (reference!).