Chaos reigns here at Meikle Logie Farmhouse with the arrival of wee puppy Sandy. She has turned the kitchen upside down – quite literally. Scraps of newspaper lie hither and thither … toys are strewn all over the place and there’s this whirling dervish rushing around trying to eat people’s feet. This evening saw her chasing Callum (now 18 and 6’4”) round and round the kitchen table with him shouting “Help! Help! She’s learnt to slide.” While we were having dinner, she decided to pick a fight with a metal pipe on the boiler and this morning I had to stop her chewing her way through the flex on the iron.
When she’s not being Sandy-the-terrorist and trying to electrocute herself she’s actually very sweet and is bringing us lots of laughter and fun.
Thanks to everyone in the Community for all the efforts in bringing light and laughter into the darkness at the end of this difficult year. So while there will be no Santa Day we can still join in with the family Christmas Jumper photo, enjoy candlelit late night shopping and look out for hidden painted stones in St Ninians Gardens.
We have also proved ourselves to be a community that continues to give even when things are so difficult.
Congratulations to everyone who helped raise more for this year’s poppy appeal than we have achieved in previous years and everyone who filled one of the 161 Blythswood Shoeboxes. In terms of current requests I am very hopeful that there will once again be a great response to the appeal for good quality toys to be re-gifted this Christmas. Also please can you consider taking the PH8 ‘Festive Challenge' and find time to chat with someone who may not be able to get out and about this year.
So, we look ahead to 2021 with a degree of hope having heard all the positive news on vaccine development.
Perhaps by Easter we will be returning to something like ‘normality.’ Please help the Community think about forward plans by joining in with the survey due to be launched in January to get people’s ideas and thoughts for priorities in the community for the years ahead.
So, one question remains ... will I be able to get Sandy into festive gear and enter her for the ‘Best Dressed Christmas Pet' competition?. My guess is that as soon as we put a cute Santa hat on her she would tear it off and eat it. However I will have a go.
On behalf of Kirsty, John and myself may I thank you for your support and encouragement over the past year – it’s certainly been a challenging one. Wishing you the very best for 2021 – may it be a happy, healthy and safe one for us all. I look forward to catching up again in February when the days are lengthening, and Sandy might, just might, just have calmed down a little.

Sally Robertson

As far as strange years go, 2020 has to rank amongst the strangest in my life time!
After my horrendous start to 2019 and the ensuing time spent in hospital I didn’t think for one minute that I would be spending this year wearing a facemask when I went out to meet anyone, queueing outside a supermarket only to get inside and discover that the shelves had been emptied by previous panic buyers. Neither did I expect that my commute to work would only be from the kitchen to the office in my own home and all Council meetings would be conducted over the internet using “Microsoft Teams” or “Zoom”. The latter being an experience that can only be likened to a séance where everyone starts every sentence with, “Can you hear me?” “Is anyone there”? or everyone shouting, “We can’t hear you!” Roll on 2021.
Despite the new challenges, council business is being conducted as best as it can be. Planning permission for the Cross Tay Link Road (CTLR) was recently approved at the planning and development committee. This means that work can now progress on completing the route through Bertha Park across the River Tay and on to the A93 and A94 at Scone. A number of concerns  were raised such as re-routing of core footpaths, the loss of a small amount of ancient woodland and even at this late stage, the route that it was taking. In my opinion, the benefits far outweighed the detriments. This is more than just a road. It opens up development land for housing and employment, it will go some way to alleviating the air quality issues in Perth city centre and I believe that it will only be a good thing for Perth.
A couple of recent incidents in our area have highlighted a worrying trend in the growing number of dog thefts. Please look after your pets, there are a lot of unscrupulous people out there who think nothing of stealing your much loved family member for financial gain and goodness knows what else. Social media, a speedy response by our Police and an element of good luck  ensured that these dogs were found and returned to their owner. They were found in the Midlands which goes to show the lengths that these people will go to!!
You will have noticed that speed limits have been reduced throughout the area. This was as a result of additional funding to aid road safety mainly for the increase in pedestrians and cyclists during lockdown. It has been getting a mixed reaction but in general it is well received and has made our roads much safer for everyone. This includes the clearways that have been put in place to prevent inconsiderate and dangerous parking. Clunie Loch was one of the areas that suffered a great deal of damage and destruction during the Lockdown. Irresponsible parking was preventing local residents from going about their daily business and Tractors and emergency vehicles were unable to gain access to  properties. The large numbers of cars parked around the Loch brought unprecedented numbers of visitors, a percentage of whom proceeded to create havoc. Litter was dumped everywhere and trees and verges were damaged. Fires were lit and left unattended and human waste was evident at every point that these dirty campers had chosen to stop. It all made for a very unpleasant experience. The Council has a team in place to work with the local residents and businesses to put measures in place so that we don’t have the same experience next year.
On remembrance Sunday I laid a wreath at the Dunkeld and Birnam war memorial. Due to the Covid restrictions it was a very different and eerie experience this year. Although there were no official plans, I was surprised to see a further 4 people in attendance including a young Dad and his small child which was very heartening to see. No piper and no last post was played but my act of remembrance meant
no less. Not even Covid can stop respect. Lest we forget.
I hope that this horrible Covid blight doesn’t prevent us all from spending some quality family time together to reflect and to look forward to a Happy and “Normal” New year. With this crazy year almost completed, it only leaves me to wish each and every one of you a happy, healthy and peaceful Christmas.

Councillor Ian James

How often do we hear ‘and surely that’s what Christmas is all about!’ It’s for the children, it’s family time, it’s getting together, it’s …… you can fill in the blank for yourself. Forgive me for getting all preachy but what Christmas is all about, actually, is the good news that ‘God is with us.’ God reaching out to his world in love to be with us, and so draw people back to him and back together.
One of the troubling aspects of this pandemic is that it threatens to reverse that connecting with people. The risk of infection makes reaching out difficult; it makes our neighbours and family members potential risks and we have to go through processes of shielding, guarding, protecting from others. That’s been really tough for folk and it will be especially tough at Christmas time because, at risk of contradicting myself, Christmas is, partly, about reaching out and getting together. (It would be a good time, then, to make that phone call, knock on a door - while staying safe of course! - just to say hello.)
Over the course of this year we have stretched ourselves with new means of communication. Folk who never dreamt of it before are now on broadband and able to see family and friends far away. That is one positive development of all this which hopefully won’t be lost. It has brought us together in different ways across boundaries.
At heart, Christmas is about God doing just that – reaching out to us, using new means of communication to get through to us. In former days there was the Law of Moses and Prophets. Some of them were stoned and illtreated, some ignored, a few were heeded.
God spoke through the events that happened to Israel over the centuries. Then finally, he sent his Son and, as St. Paul wrote, ‘God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.’
In the hand of a vulnerable, powerless baby he reached out in love to make contact. To assure us he is with us, to die and rise again, and to promise us eternal life. That’s what Christmas is all about. The question then is, what are we going to do about it?
I think we all want to write 2020 off as a bad job. Like never before we look forward to a New Year but despite all the restrictions and difficulties we are going through, I hope you have a blessed and peaceful Christmas as we celebrate the good news that through everything, God is with us.

Fraser Penny