Time and Time Again

Is it possible I can make a decision and stick with it?

Wake me up before you go-go

It was great to have finally woken up. The inevitable meeting with Sir Richard Branson and the look of recognition in his eyes told the truth of the dream, I was really doing it.

For the fourth time, I was completing this book. As before, we started in the year 2044. I looked down at my hands and saw the wrinkles of an 82 year old man and began to remember the outstanding life I had lived. Knowing at the point of publication the influence this story had, the feeling was one of awe. I felt at one with the Creator. As had been said by many theologians, the pen is the instrument of the Word of God for each of the authors of the Bible.

Whilst I am not putting the story in the same category as the Bible, I felt a similar presence myself. These words held a potency of information passed back through time to ensure the story unfolded as it should.

From this point of view the beauty I beheld can only be compared to the moment a lover falls head over heels in love with the beloved. Words like 'bliss' failed to convey the experience. Life is an endlessly fascinating expression of the divine spark and from my seat here as a senior citizen the appreciation was unbounded.

The quantum leap of time travel bewilders the mind with its paradoxical creations. Over and over, I have faced these seemingly impossible realities that have staggered the imagination, rendering me powerless to relate it to the general populace. That is why I have held back each time.

Without such restraint the asteroid would have hit and the history of our species would have been completely different. It is a strange thing, how the knowledge you have after the event helps you understand why it unfolded as it did. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe said "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." My understanding is that life can be understood in countless ways and lived in any direction. Our imagination can unlock the shackles that bind us to the arrow of time.

If you are reading this prior to the asteroid threat, the fear you may feel is very real. However, an unwavering belief in our ability to prevail empowers us all to face the threat and avert it. From my point of view we did. The quantum universe can produce any outcome you can imagine. The important thing is choosing the one you desire. That is why I wrote this book.

I hope you enjoy the story and even more importantly enjoy your part in it.

Chapter Two

As a small boy, I dreamed of being a top professional footballer. In my classes at school, in English, I would be writing out fixtures. In Maths, I’d be calculating league tables. The only thing that mattered to me was football. Consequently, I left school with little qualifications, however, I was offered apprentice professional terms at Fulham Football Club, and so began the realisation of my football dreams.

In English, we were studying the classic Wuthering Heights. I quite liked the teacher so for this lesson I paid attention and got into the story. I really liked the character of Heathcliff and his love for the tempestuous Cathy. As I got further into the book, I too began to fall in love with Cathy. Oh, to be Heathcliff! I dreamed of finding a girl like her in real life.

One day I gatecrashed a party with a friend of mine. It was in the garage of a large house in Camberley. I was there for literally two minutes when the girl whose house it was approached me across the garage floor. I didn’t know it was her house at the time. As she came nearer, we looked into each others‘ eyes, smiled and with no introductions she sat on my knee and we began kissing. After a few minutes, we stopped and I asked her “what’s your name?” I was stunned when she replied “It’s Cathy,” for as she approached me, she was my image of Cathy from Wuthering Heights and this was really her name. I thought to myself, this is my destiny. I’m going to marry this girl.

Now, my dad had drilled into me Never Let Women Interfere With Your Football. Cathy asked to see me on the following Saturday instead of playing football and I had a decision to make. Do I choose the football dream or this dream of Cathy. What do you think I chose? Yes. The football dream. A few months later, I signed apprentice professional forms with Fulham as I said. The football dream was on the road and Cathy became just a memory.

***

March 1978.

Over the airwaves was the most incredible voice singing “It’s me, Cathy, come home now.” Kate Bush with her song ‘Wuthering Heights’ has just reached No. 1 in the pop charts. I watched the video and said to myself “There’s my Cathy!” I immediately checked myself and said “don’t be stupid, she’s a really famous woman, you are nobody, it’s never going to happen.” Continuing this conversation with myself, I added, “hang on a minute, if I make it in football, I’ll move in the right kind of circles and I’ll meet her.” So I got my head down and went for it with football.

Introduction

I have put off the telling of this story for so long, twenty years in fact, that most people have given up believing it will ever see the light of day. Well here it is in full.

Have you ever wondered what would happen if everything you did worked and you couldn't fail? Would you succeed beyond your wildest dreams? Or would you do what I have done and shrink into a fearful, inactive and sad person?

The only cure is action, to prove it to yourself. The truth is, there is no failure, only experience and learning and I have learnt unless you do what you love, you live in a world of "what ifs", "I could haves" and "if onlys" that never were.

Well in this story I am taking action. I am The Master of my Fate as I live out my belief. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I have, there is fulfillment here and the feeling of hope springing eternal.

Come with me now beyond the "Edge of Dreams"

Chapter One - Frank Skinner

"So Doug, now you are on the show does that mean Madonna really will be the President of the United States?" Frank asks with his tongue firmly set in his cheek.

"I can't live Madonna's life for her, Frank, it's up to her" I replied.

"Well, let's ask her then. Please welcome Madonna!"

On walked the iconic star to rapturous applause.

I had been invited onto the Frank Skinner Show as a guest because my book "Edge of Dreams" had sold over a million copies. Various radio broadcasts and chat shows later, I was touring the world to talk about my story.

Frank was used to interviewing all kinds of celebrities and as his show was highly popular, I agreed to go on with Madonna. After all, "it will make great TV," my coach and manager Tom Evans had said.

The nature of the material in the book had inspired a great many people, not least the celebrities written about, and their involvement brought the story to life.

We talked about George Best and the power of celebrity and of the ability the media has to shape and destroy the lives of all famous people. As I had been George's apprentice at Fulham, I had first-hand experience of seeing media people chasing him for stories and photos and observing the power the spotlight has to transform the perception of a person.

Now it was happening to me. My experience of living on the edge had equipped me for what was to come. The world would ridicule me in the same vein as David Ike, the ex-pro goalkeeper turned TV presenter who became interested in spiritual matters and when he communicated his ideas people thought he was crazy.

I was ready. I could see three stages to my career as an author and speaker. The first being that of entertainer. If David Ike hadn't taken himself so seriously I am certain he would have had more of an impact.

The second stage is as an educator. Once you have people's attention then you have the ability to communicate a message. I certainly wanted to get mine across.

Finally, being in a position to inspire people was my life's dream and here it was. The world was listening and I was talking.

"So, are you going to be Prez then, Madge?" Frank inquired, not sure what the response would be.

New Dream Old Dream

Procrastination is an art and I am a Master! Unfortunately the world is full of Master Procrastinators.

Today, the day of the lovers is my deadline for posting Chapter One and still I hold back. Looking at my track record everything suggests I never do it.

Big breath...Let us see...

New Dream

A new dream is dawning, pulling together all the strings of the previous tapestry. Yet again "Edge of Dreams" breaks into another world! Watch this space...

Orpheus

Every dream has the same ending. Asteroid Orpheus appears in the sky, hits The Earth, and ends all human life. November 2021, always the same month and the same year. Whatever I do in each dream I cannot avert this catastrophe. Until now! This is the dream I do it differently...