3x3is9

We've rented a unit in Petersham for nearly a year now and we honestly can't wait until our lease is up. If you simply must live here, stay as far away from Trafalgar Street as you can. Not only is it absolutely filthy, but you've got the train noise, the bus noise, and the planes flying overhead as well as a constant influx of inconsiderate people who like to yell at the top of their lungs in residential areas. There are also frequent trackworks which means you have buses replacing trains throughout the entire night on the weekends, and Sydney Trains always use the oldest, noisiest buses for this purpose, so you can forget about getting any sleep on these nights.

Let me elaborate on the yelling you get to hear in this neighbourhood. When we first moved in, we were quite entertained by the amount of loud bogan couples having expletive-laden arguments, but it got old really quickly. A couple of weeks ago I actually witnessed a woman being punched in the face by what appeared to be her boyfriend. They then carried on into the night, screaming and swearing at each other and leaving me honestly fearing for my safety.

Oh! Speaking of safety, I forgot to mention the junkie that one of our neighbours caught shooting up in our communal laundry room. Then there was the time that yet another junkie tried to break into our unit while we were INSIDE it and then after he was caught, just went downstairs and tried the same thing with one of our neighbours. We had a great time watching him get searched and arrested by police directly outside our window (this all happened at around 11am on a Sunday - we're not talking about the middle of the night here). So there's one positive I can bring to this: The police in Petersham are quick to respond to the copious amount of junkie crime that seems to exist in this suburb.

Finally - the shops. I hope you like dingy convenience store-style supermarkets, because Foodworks (the only supermarket here) leaves a lot to be desired. You'll more than likely end up having to drive to Leichhardt or Marrickville to get food to cook. You can pretty much forget about dining out unless you want to live on a diet of Portuguese chicken burgers (Silva's is great, but not every night). We always hop on the train and go to Newtown if we actually want to eat out, so the transport out of here is a plus. There are maybe two nice cafes, but neither of them open on Sunday, so good luck getting any Sunday brunch here. We were pretty excited about the new Oxford Tavern opening and thought this might spice the suburb up a bit and encourage some cool new businesses to move in, but to be quite honest i'm not sure if Petersham is going anywhere in that regard. Counting down the days until we're out of here!