Queen’s long love affair with the inner city

Queen Olivia Lucretia-Bourgeois Connie St Redfern III (she, he, they) is a Wellington inner city resident, actor, model, an exceedingly colourful personality, and now author with her comedy gift book The Cat Operations Manual, which is about to be published.

My favourite thing about this part of Wellington is?

Cuba St, now on its second wave of gentrification, if we count the 2000s motorway bypass as the first wave. When I landed in Wellington in the mid-90s there wasn’t an ATM to be found on Cuba St. Now I promenade up and down reminding myself of the long warm concrete hug Wellington has held me in for the last several decades. Oh, and I always walk on the dry side of the Bucket Fountain.

The best place to get coffee and bump into neighbours is?

Pickle and Pie holding court before a grassy hillock could easily be missed from the main thoroughfares. It is a source of constant delight. The food is delicious, so is the coffee.

To get to work I travel by?

I have an unusual work life, juggling a day job in Petone with lots of time in a home office writing and going on journeys of self-discovery with eyeshadow. My usual mode of transport is walking, which is slightly less fun when jumping out of the way of e-scooters.

If you’re looking for somewhere to eat in Te Aro you can’t go past?

For more than 10 years I have had a standing date with my fag stag (that’s like a fag hag but a straight man) and we visit Catch and I eat my body weight in salmon and rice, and ponder if I was an Alaskan bear in a past life. Catch has unpretentious sushi and sashimi, executed flawlessly with fresh ingredients.

The most contentious issue in my neighbourhood?

The local people, who I’ve heard unkindly referred to as “screamers”, for whom the Poneke Promise project was set up to assist. I don’t know what the solution is, but I’m not entirely convinced the recent “safety” changes in Te Aro Park have made a material difference.

The perfect Saturday morning is?

Bed, coffee and scrolling. But, if someone is hellbent on brunch, or family visiting, you can’t go past a stroll on the waterfront and a visit to Dragons on Tory St for yum cha.

Not many people know this about Te Aro but?

There were originally two Terrace Tunnels planned, three lanes in and three lanes out, but the project was cancelled and the unused motorway ramp that would have serviced the second tunnel was repurposed into the Clifton Terrace car park.

To clear my head, I go to?

I take a Mevo, drive to the wind turbine at the top of Brooklyn, ignore the sign that says “not suitable for pedestrians” and take a long walk along the ridge. The wind up there is like drycleaning for my psyche.

My guilty pleasure in the city is?

I don’t know if guilt is the right emotion, but I spend more time in Daiso on Manners St than seems entirely reasonable. At some point I’m going to run out of room on the fridge for Japanese cat magnets, but I’m not there yet.

If were mayor for a day I would?

Obviously a massive statue of myself.