Ur question was why can't we do, a.append('1').append('2'). The reason is a.append('1') returns None, the line a.append('1').append('2') is equal to None. append('2'), which is a error

Looks like a funny issue, I couldn't re - produce it. But Ican suggest you the solution.

try this,

print "Why "+ test.strip() +" there a line break all the time?"

It has to work out, strip...