Synopsis :

Imagine if there were important events in your life where you had to make certain decisions ? Crossroads. Imagine if you took the alternative path ? Imagine that path was taken by an alternative you in an alternative universe ? Imagine if all of those alternatives could again converge for the good of humanity…………..or for entertainment ?

The failed architect now homeless.

Two sporting legends (cricket and football) now media celebrities.

The pop star, high on the excesses of a rock n’ roll lifestyle, down on his luck.

The one time comedy script writer and poet trying to write his first sci-fi novel.

The moderately successful banker retired to suburbia with a dark secret.

Six, seventy old ‘yous’, because of your rare blood properties, are brought together to stop the extinction of the human race. Or are you just media fodder to distract the masses from impending extinction ?

Follow the stories of alpha-j, beta-j, gamma-j, delta-j, epsilon-j and zeta-j. The realists and the ‘entertainers’.

John Alphege ADAMS b. 1.4.1960 Glasgow, Scotland.

ALPHA: John ‘Alfie’ Adams (professional footballer, TV broadcaster, presenter)

BETA: J. Alphege Adams (architect)

GAMMA: John A. Adams (bank manager with a secret)

DELTA: Johnny A.A. Fairlie-Smyth (professional cricketer, sports writer, speaker)

EPSILON: Johnny Adams (writer, poet)

ZETA: Alphege Johns (recording artist)

This is as far as I got with an idea for a story for my breakthrough debut novel. Good thing I didn’t give up my day job !

But what if life emulated the movies and you had a Sliding Doors experience ? Where would you be ? What would you have become ?

My mother confided in me for the first time when we were about to embark on our trip to Australia nearly forty years ago that my father had considered a job in New Zealand in the 1960s.

I could have been brought up a Kiwi. Would I have embraced the national sport and represented the All Blacks ? Could I have met up with the Finn brothers and be a founding member of Split Enz ?

Would I talk like this ?

At school the two subjects I really enjoyed and I think was good at were Music and Technical Drawing. Due to parental pressure and curriculum planning that dream was quickly snubbed out. I studied French, Chemistry and Physics. I should be an eminent scientist, n’est-ce pas ? I failed all three. Could I have been a renowned architect of auditoriums and music venues ?

My first proper job was at a music shop in Glasgow and was meant to fill in the time before I turned eighteen and could audition for the Leeds College of Music’s inaugural Jazz Studies course. I never attended that audition. I was too busy having fun and earning money. Could I have been Jazzy John world known musician, arranger and film score writer ?

I did have a modicum of success in a part-time band. We were approached by two promoters/managers. One promised frequent well paying gigs and the other was the bass player of Middle Of The Road and who had set up his own home studio and a chap called Wally from CBS who gave me free LPs. I liked the ideas of the latter. My band mates chose the former who after a few months started ripping us off. Could success in the music industry that I always yearned for have come with a different choice ? Who knows.

One tends to think of only positives in these scenarios. You never dwell on the what if I had taken a short cut down that dark and dank alley or what if I had got into that man’s car to go and see some puppies ! Too sinister.

My life led me down a certain path which takes me to where I am now, nearly forty years in my adopted country, comfortable enjoying the time and space that presents itself to me in my late sixties.

I also get the opportunity to write nonsense bits of fluff like this just for the fun of it !

Enjoy the journey.

(Post by John Allan from Bridgetown, Western Australia – April 2026)