A new term on The Courier letters desk always seems to coincide with the schools going back.
Over the summer, the nature and volume of correspondence changes but that provides a natural and refreshing break to the year.
There is a dip in pugilistic point scoring, allowing space for what some may term more uplifting subjects.
This summer our correspondents have explored the likely causes of Alyth’s devastating flood and leapt to either condemn or exonerate the beavers accused of blocking water courses.
In Angus there has been anger at seal shooting, Perth is still divided over the future of City hall, Fife has been rowing about library closures and, from Dundee, there has emerged a debate about the benefits of dog ownership.
But it was back to school clothes and routine at the start of this week. As if at the flick of a switch, the subject matter turned back to the serious business of putting the world to rights.
Despite temperatures close to 20C, our letter writers are already making predictions about a dark and dreary winter.
They argue that the closure of Longannet power station with the loss of hundreds of jobs will put Scotland’s energy security at risk. High transmission charges to connect to the UK grid are blamed by some while others claim coal-burning Longannet has been sacrificed in a green crusade.To submit your letter, click hereWhatever the reason, I do hope we can have a full debate in this column on the reasons behind the closure and the future of energy security in Scotland. I usually try to run letters on the same subject on the same day.
Another winter theme is firing up those in their late 40s and early 50s. The prospect of a Labour lurch to the left under Jeremy Corbyn is terrifying those who grew up in the shadows of the early 1970s.
We have carried a number of letters from people recalling childhood trauma of power cuts blacking out Scooby-Doo and the like.
But the warnings about Jeremy Corbyn have allowed us to dust off a few black and white photos of the 1970s which we published to accompany the letters.
One was of Derek Robinson the militant British Leyland shop steward known as Red Robbo whose Communist colleagues controlled workers at the company’s Longbridge plant while Trotskyist leaders ran the union at Cowley.
The photograph that intrigued me though was one of a dimmed Woolworth’s store during the 1972 miners’ strike. The picture showed the biscuit counter and it brought to mind the caramel-coated loose biscuits you used to get there. Never seen them since and cannot remember what they were called so if anyone can remember, please let me know.
When we changed from broadsheet to compact format in 2012, we set aside more space for letters and when we refreshed the design earlier this year, we increased the allocation further.
We are always keen to hear new voices, so get involved. Submitting your letters is very simple.