A great hoax

Somewhere, possibly not too far from Palmerston North's Massey University, someone is shitting themselves.

Their's is not the great hoax. Their's is proof that there is a fine line between fantastic jape, and abject stupidity. And proof that Foot & Mouth disease does not come near the top of popular comic subjects in an agricultural economy like New Zealand.

But this is not their story.

In April 1999 it came to light that a 4.5 metre python skin had been found in Wellington's Botanic Gardens.

Pretty much everyone realised it was an April Fool's joke. Experts raised doubts - if there really were a 4.5 metre snake in central Wellington, neighbours bordering the Gardens would have noticed their cats & dogs & possibly children going missing. However, they said, to be on the safe side... if the snake existed, it would most likely spend its rest time wrapped around someone's hot water cyllinder.

The possibility caught the public's imagination. Snake hunts were organised through the gardens at night.

In May that year, Mrs Llew & I bought a nice sunny house just a few doors up from the gardens. I can admit now, that when inspecting the hot water cyllinders in that house, it was with some degree of trepidation. Mrs Llew had been warned that if I wasn't back in 5 minutes, and if a lot of noise indicating a mortal struggle was heard from the back of the house, she was to ring 111, and then bring me a large knife.

This, was a great hoax. A magnificent jape. And I confess to some disappointment when the news broke that it was indeed, not true.

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