The lucky one

A Polish man has woken up from a 19-year coma to find the Communist party no longer in power and food no longer rationed, Polish TV reports. Railway worker Jan Grzebski, 65, fell into a coma after he was hit by a train in 1988. "Now I see people on the streets with mobile phones and there are so many goods in the shops it makes my head spin," he told Polish television.

As you can see, the reality is sometimes slavishly following the art. Obviously Mr Grzebski was doubly lucky - he is recovering from a coma and, on top of it, he missed the most painful years of Polish "perestroika". Truly a miracle, and he will get used to the good parts. Then, of course, he will get wise to the bad ones and start complaining and it will be business as usual from this point on...

There is more useful information in the article, though:

A comatose patient is in a profound state of unconsciousness which renders them unaware of both self and the world around them, and from which they cannot be roused. Although those in a coma do not respond to stimuli in a meaningful way, contrary to popular belief they do not always lie quiet and still - in some cases they can move, open their eyes and even talk.

I like the understated and gentle way BBC put it. After all, they do not want to alienate all these nice people:

There still is some hope for them, as Mr Grzebski has clearly demonstrated. Besides, BBC wants to be careful with this man:

Of course, there is no hope for that one, as you can clearly see. But let's not disturb him...

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