Chapter Text
1905
[Narration by Doctor John Watson, M.D. (retired)]
In October a chance arose to travel to London to hear a Trafalgar Day concert which would feature a new piece by Mr. Henry Wood. I was initially reluctant to go mostly because I feared any disruption to my happy existence but Sherlock eventually 'persuaded' me (use your imagination!). We could have travelled on to Baker Street to see Mr. and Mrs. Lindberg afterwards but we arranged to meet them instead at my favourite Trafalgar Street restaurant. I was doubly glad at that; 221B belonged to the past and I wanted to remember it fondly while walking boldly into my future with the man I loved. Although after our night at the hotel in London walking was something I could only do with difficulty And the capital's roads were even bumpier than I remembered!
This was also the year that the militant suffragette movement began to make its presence felt and as I had predicted (I just know that a certain blue-eyed genius is muttering something about wiseacres as I write this!) the public reaction was hostile. Votes for women would come just as the last century had brought three great acts that had led to about sixty per cent of men (mainly those with property) having a vote, but this sort of direct action served only to antagonize people and press criticism was particularly fierce. The suffragette movement did however claim one early casualty; Mr. Ranulph Holmes followed up a major speech at an anti-suffragette rally with a six-course meal and promptly dropped dead of a heart-attack!
Perhaps I was wrong to say that the suffragettes were all bad – and damnation if he is not shaking his head at me again!
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