Former Polish president and Solidarity trade union leader Lech Walesa says he has been given a new lease of life after receiving a heart pacemaker last month, according to dpa. "I feel like I'm 18 again," the 64-year-old was quoted as saying by the PAP news agency during a visit to Bydgoszcz. Before the operation in Houston, Texas, he had been able to climb stairs only with difficulty. Now he felt full of energy, often waking up in the middle of the night feeling he could get straight to work. Walesa, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983 and went on to be president from 1990 to 1995, is shortly to become Poland's representative on an "reflection group" of veterans tasked with producing a vision of the future for the European Union.
