An east wind coming.

"There is an east wind coming, Watson."

"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."

"Good old Watson! You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There's an east wind coming all the same, such a wind as never blew on England yet. It will be cold and bitter, Watson, and a good many of us may wither before its blast. But it's God's own wind none the less, and a cleaner, better, stronger land will lie in the sunshine when the storm has cleared. Start her up, Watson, for it's time that we were on our way. I have a cheque for five hundred pounds which should be cashed early, for the drawer is quite capable of stopping it, if he can."

Welcome to 2017.

East winds are coming all over the place. Playing with the lines between fact and fancy is now a public occurrence outside of the "Game" of Sherlockiana. We are threatened not by a single dictator or conqueror but an overall wave of delusional idiocy, spurred by some becoming so efficient in the basic necessities of life that their primary focuses can easily become nonsensical and others so desperate to hold on to old standards that they'll give anything a chance. As a species, we've had an upgrade that we haven't quite figured out how to deal with yet.

And BBC's Sherlock, season 4, comes today, promising its own east wind, both within the tale it tells and without.

Some will love it, some will hate it, and the Sherlockian world will be changed yet again. But it's just a hobby, just a TV show, right? No worries! And yet . . . .

If you're invested enough in Sherlock Holmes to be reading this blog and have made it this far down the page, you should be well aware of what effects the stories we hold close have on our lives. And, in the case of a fandom like ours, those effects are fairly obvious on fellow fans. These days, however, when we have seen a game show host cast as a leader primarily for having played on on TV, it is also obvious that some fandoms aren't quite as self-aware. Would we elect Benedict Cumberbatch to run the Federal Bureau of Investigation? Sure! What great fun! But we'd also know how silly that act was, each and every one of us.

We come to 2017 in a time of east winds, and winds are tricky, unpredictable things.

And what did Sherlock Holmes do, when the east wind was coming, bringing the first world-wide was and much hardship for England itself?

He went out to cash a check. Sure, there were some devastating possibilities on the horizon. And Sherlock could have stood there on the terrace bemoaning the dark future with Watson. But would that have served any greater purpose that just getting off to the bank for a little check cashing? Nope.

Welcome to 2017, folks. Let's cash those checks while we've got them, on our way to dealing with the larger matters. Or as Sherlock would say:

"Start her up, Watson, for it's time that we were on our way."