A man in Poland was hit by a railway train in 1988 and has been in a coma ever since  – until now, 19 years later. See here

The concept of being in a coma is well known to horror writers and we’ve all read, and possibly written, stories based on the comatose victims being aware of their surroundings and maybe hearing discussions about their life support system being switched off, but not able to do anything about it. – Until the cliche’d twitch of a finger that a relative sees and voila…

I’m fascinated to know how / why this chap came out of his coma & the dedication of his wife who remained at his bedside for most of the 19 years (I told my wife that she can leave me to my chances & get herself a life after 3 weeks. She said she wouldnt wait that long  ).

His rueful comments that modern people with their mobile phones and no food shortages (the post-scarcity society) are always moaning, are quite telling!

 A young writer, Gareth Stack, reminded me the other day about how fresh and coruscating creative writing can be when unfettered by rules and experience. A website Gareth co-writes is Jackdaw Fool and is well worth a visit by writers young and old. It refreshes parts editors often cannot reach!