Issue #17

Good morning!

Yes, I know. Three Fridays without a word. No one knew what the heck was going on. Chaos.

I went on holiday to Fiji and forgot how to write for a bit. Sorry. I'm back. We're back.

It's Halloween tomorrow. Our house has a mummy and a ghost in training and is covered in spiders. Best holiday of the year. Here's a great lil map of who's getting in the spirit around the Inner West.

One more thing. I'm running for the Bowlo board. Yes, really. Details below.

The Bowlo needs a board. Every seat on the Petersham Bowling Club board is up for election at the AGM. That's President, two Vice Presidents, Treasurer and five Directors. Nine seats.

Pick a position, find someone to nominate you and someone to second it, and sign to say you accept. When I checked the board, the Vice President sheet was blank.

So I'm coming forward. Full disclosure: I'm putting my hand up for one of the five Director seats. My platform: keep the schooners cold, keep the bands and DJs coming, and shorten the bar queue. For starters, an esky of tinnies on the green on busy days. I still need a member to nominate me and another to second it before November 8, so if that's you, reply to this or find me at the bar. And if you're a member, come along on November 29 and vote. Ideally for me.

Halloween Eve with Grapee and Blue Moon. Friday, October 30, 7 pm to 11 pm. Gifts of Mercy Emporium, 452 Parramatta Road, Petersham. All ages.

Kids Halloween Disco. 3 pm to 6 pm. PBC, on the top green. Baby ghosts to longtime haunters.

Inner West Halloween Festival. 3 pm to 7 pm. Summer Hill Public School, just over the Lewisham border. Games, crafts and a haunted house.

Halloween at the Flour Mill. 4 pm to 6 pm. The Flour Mill of Summer Hill. Free. Trick-or-treating, face painting and a best-dressed competition.

Halloween Street Party. 4:30 pm to 7:30 pm. Newtown Neighbourhood Centre, 11-13 Darley Street, Newtown. Free. Haunted house, face painting, pumpkin decorating, a costume parade, a free barbecue, and live music from Penny Red and Reverse Revolution. Alcohol free. Good for small ghosts still going after the disco.

Spirits of the Hoey: A Live Love Letter to the Hopetoun Hotel. 6 pm to 11 pm. PBC. 18+. A Halloween wake for the Hopetoun Hotel in Surry Hills, shut as a live room in 2009. Vrag, the band that became Machine Gun Fellatio, reform with Christa Hughes on vocals. Cathy Green's Shiver of Destiny come up from Melbourne and play some Ian Rilen songs. The Vanilla Chainsaws reunite their classic line-up for the first time in almost 20 years. The Hoey Barflies bring members of Box the Jesuit, Swirl, Laughing Clowns and Waxworks. Loene Carmen opens with a solo set.

Unorganised 2. 6:30 pm. Gifts of Mercy. Defektro, Rapacity, Monoeater and Scariestgirlintheworld.

Screen Printing for Beginners. Sunday, November 1, 10 am to 4 pm. Bobbin and Ink, Stanmore. A full-day class: expose your artwork onto a screen, then print it on fabric or paper. Paid, book ahead.

Mickey & Michelle. Thursday, November 5. PBC. Doors 7 pm, music 7:30 pm. $35, or $25 concession. Kids 12 and under free with an adult.

The Southwest Metro opens today. After two years of pink replacement buses, the old Bankstown line comes back as metro, with the first train at 4:31 this morning. Marrickville to Gadigal now takes 12 minutes, with a train every four minutes in the weekday peak. This weekend they run every seven minutes, and the pink buses keep going through Sunday while everyone works it out.

Not our line, I know. But Dulwich Hill and Marrickville are a short ride away. And the 413 through Lewisham is getting 173 extra trips a week, connecting with the metro at Campsie. Off-peak buses go from every 30 minutes to every 20.

No Inner West Line trains on Saturday. Trackwork means Inner West trains don't run on Saturday, October 31. T1 Western and T2 Leppington trains make extra stops instead. Sunday may be hit too. Check before you head to the Bowlo.

Lewisham's station plan is out. Council wants feedback on a long-term plan for the streets around Lewisham Station. The funded part: Victoria Street goes one-way northbound between Hobbs Street and Railway Terrace, with a station drop-off, wider footpaths, trees and seating. Victoria Street loses five parking spaces (15 down to 10). Jubilee Street gains four. Council will also push Transport for NSW for a signalised pedestrian crossing on Old Canterbury Road, linking the light rail and the train station. That part has no money yet.

A safer ride down West Street? Council wants feedback on a bike route from Parramatta Road to Marrickville Park, via West Street and Ducros Street. The proposal includes safer crossings, traffic calming and closing the slip lane at Thomas and West Streets. It's not a continuous separated cycleway. Parts use shared footpaths, the rest on-road bike markings. Have your say by Wednesday, November 4.

Eight storeys of co-living, by Lewisham station. The Inner West Local Planning Panel approved an 8-storey building at 18 McGill Street on October 13: commercial space plus 205 co-living rooms. It exceeds the height and floor space limits and falls short of parking requirements. The panel's vote was unanimous.

"Melford", 50 Cavendish Street. The one you clicked more than anything else last issue was due to go under the hammer last Saturday. No result has been published yet, and Domain still shows it on the market. I'll let you know.

Domain has discovered us. A Petersham suburb profile, headlined "Petersham: Where Portuguese heritage meets contemporary inner-west cool". The Bowlo gets a shout-out as one of the first lawn bowling clubs the community has taken over. We'll try not to let it go to our heads.

And if you're in the market for some of that inner-west cool, have a look at 24/5 Croydon Street and 7 Fisher Street, both in Petersham.

Which street in 2049 goes hardest for Halloween? Reply and tell me. Best ones go in next week.

Have a spooky weekend.

— Bryan

P.S. Know a neighbour who'd like this? Send them your link below. Get three of them signed up, and your next schooner at the Bowlo is on me.