One sibling’s astronomical prank
A cheeky younger brother fond of staging elaborate pranks is the joker behind the Wainuiomata ‘‘space rock’’ mystery.
Joyce Lockyer and her brother John Shiel, of Levin, are both eligible for Gold Cards – but for the past 15 years or more have enjoyed playing childish pranks on one another.
A strange rock and crater with apparent scorch marks, found in the Lower Hutt suburb, received national coverage on Sunday. Now Shiel has admitted the more downto-earth origins of the rock – he found it on the road, years ago.
‘‘He thinks it’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened,’’ Lockyer said. ‘‘He’s not the least bit sympathetic.’’
Shiel pounced when Lockyer and husband Graeme went abroad for a holiday. He drove down from Levin, and enlisted the help of a younger brother, Graham.
‘‘They’re both old enough know better,’’ Lockyer said.
She’s now keen on revenge. ‘‘I can’t think of anything that would outdo this but I won’t stop trying.’’ to
Shiel said he’d had the rock for years. ‘‘I found it on the side of the road.’’
He admitted to playing many pranks on his sister – and her spouse – over the years, but this one ‘‘was just a little bit better’’.
He particularly enjoyed the opportunity to have some fun at Wainuiomata’s expense. He reckoned the ‘‘space rock’’ was the biggest thing to happen in the Lower Hutt suburb since its residents declared it a city but then realised ‘‘they couldn’t count’’ and had to backtrack.
‘‘They’re still in pounds, shillings and pence over there, aren’t they?’’
On Wednesday, he reckoned he would be able to prank his sister again and was confident that no revenge prank would fool him.
The ‘‘space rock’’ turned up in Lockyer’s garden shortly before the peak of the annual Eta Aquariid meteor shower. That event was one of two meteor showers created by dust debris from Halley’s Comet as it orbited the Sun.