I was in a tea room recently (Blue Pool, Dorset) and the chap on the next table had a very odd 'appendage' sticking out of his head behind his left ear. At first I thought that it was an ear mounted hearing aid on some sort of retainer, but discrete (hopefully!) further observation showed a tube of perhaps 3/4" diameter and 1.5" length sticking out of his hair a couple of inches further back from the ear and a bit higher, and had a metallic looking box about 1.5" x 2" x 3/4" (maybe slightly smaller) on it's end.
My first thought was it was impossibly vulnerable to knocks, and lying down in bed wasn't possible. So what the heck was it? Fellow was probably in his
70's, we had a normal bit of chit chat about the place and holidays in general and he was fully lucid.
... so what was it ? .... some sort of cerebral monitor or pacer .... I'm totally puzzled.
Andrew