It first started when his plane was struck by lightning.
“I was sitting almost at the rear of the aircraft on a window seat and I saw a flash of light and then there was quite a loud explosive sound,” the Christchurch man said.
“It was quite a bang and I thought oh gosh, is that ... could it be an engine?”
After another flash of light, he figured it must have been lightning.
“I noticed the plane didn’t alter, the lights didn’t flicker, and ... the oxygen mask didn’t drop down, so everything just carried on as normal,” Southern said.
As Southern left the plane, the captain told him the lightning strike had not affected the plane and, while the bang seemed to be right below him, it was probably all around the aircraft.
Said Southern: “I’ve since learned that the electricity, it does that. It can’t go anywhere because it’s in the air ... so it just sort of encompasses the aircraft.”
From there, the day continued as normal and he went on to work.
It wasn’t until the evening a colleague told him he should buy a Lotto ticket.
Southern ran to a nearby Countdown but by that time it was too late - the Lotto station had closed.
“They said look, we can’t do anything at all because it’s all shut down,” he said.
“I said: ‘I know, but if I left you some money, you could get the first ticket off the block (the following day).”
Southern left $20 with staff and a promise that if he won big, he would shout them lunch in Queenstown.
When he returned the next day and reclaimed the ticket, he discovered he had won $66.
“Not a lot of money, but the thought of winning was great,” he said.
Unfortunately, the amount he won and the bonus ticket - which won nothing - were not enough to fulfil his promise. Due to staff policy, they could not take any money as a thank you but the Countdown team leader said she would make sure they all got a box of chocolates.
Southern said the whole ordeal had not left him feeling luckier but he looked back with fondness at the strangers who “didn’t know (him) from a bar of soap” but helped him buy that Lotto ticket.
After the string of improbable events, Southern used $20 from his lucky winnings to buy a new Lotto ticket in Christchurch but won nothing.
“It’s all back to normal,” he said.
