Yes, they looked a bit like goths

On the tube back from a gig in Camden. I was sharing a carriage with a man and a woman having quite a heated discussion. The man seemed bored of the conversation when I sat down, and said with a sigh:

"The thing about brain death is that you can't recover from it." The woman tried to interrupt, but he ploughed on: "Once the higher brain functions have gone, that's it."

Impressive, I thought. An unconventional topic of conversation, but anyone who can use the phrase "higher brain functions" at 11pm, and sound like they know what it means, deserves some respect.

Then it became clear that the woman was arguing that she had once been brain dead. Quite recently in fact.

"I was definitely brain dead. I couldn't see or move!" she said. But when pressed by the man she admitted that she could see a bit, although it was all blurry. And she could also move, just not very easily.

I think she might have confused "being brain dead" with "having a hangover".

When I got off the tube a few stops later, the discussion was still in full flow, and I was beginning to feel a little brain dead myself.