It's Friday, afternoon is approaching and the weather is somewhat dreary. Autumn hasn't really started yet, but it certainly is in the air. Billie Stormzy and I have just been to his a music class, or as he calls it: "58". Because, you see, it is at the Scheveningen YMCA, which is located at Keizerstraat 58. Although he is not taking it as far as a few months ago, when he was even calling people by their number -their age - rather than their names, numbers are still the way in which he orders his life. Numbers and, increasingly, streetnames. It's amazing how clearly he knows which streets are which.
Music class was a bit of a disappointment. We used to go there with his older sister, and it was always great fun, led by two men who wrote their own songs that they would sing together with the kids. This time, it was very chaotic. The teacher came in, let the kids grab instruments, attempted to sing a song, but gave up quickly and instead played songs on the stereo system. He asked Billie Stormzy what his favourite song was, to which Billie Stormzy replied Frozen II. He meant the motion picture soundtrack for the second Frozen film, which is one of several CDs on heavy rotation during our car rides, when everybody gets to pick their CD in turn and the kids always pick the same one. The teacher proceeded to play "Let It Go", which is from the first film, but Billie Stormzy, who was getting slightly bored, was delighted and we all had to dance to it.
After picking a place to sit, it doesn't take long before Billie Stormzy has found out we're at table number 57. He then spends most of our visit to Miss Maui with running around the beach club finding out which tables have which numbers. I have to tell him a number, then he checks every table until he finds it.
I pick a noodle soup for myself (€11,50), and a tea. Billie Stormzy only wants apple juice, he says, but when the waitress is gone, he changes his mind and says he wants an apple pie. I pick him up and we walk to the counter, where I inquire whether there are pies. There are none. I look at the menu and spot American Pancakes in the breakfast section, which can be ordered until 12:00. It's 11:50, so I ask if that is still a possibility. The very friendly, and outgoing waitress gives me a broad smile and tells me that should be no problem at all.
Drinks are brought soon afterwards, and surprisingly fast, my noodle soup arrives too. As always, I have some difficulty navigating eating it with having Billie Stormzy on my lap. We've sat down at a low table, so it really is a bit of a challenge, but I manage. Billie Stormzy, meanwhile, drinks his orange juice through a straw, but is getting annoyed his pancakes take longer than he wants to arrive - i.e. longer than arriving immediately. Then, he is off running around the tables again. The noodle soup is not fantastic, but okay. The pancakes, however, once they are brought, are actually very good. As usual, they are served with all kinds of berries - which Billie Stormzy ignores - syrup and powdered sugar, and Billie Stormzy eats most of it, leaving one for me which I take as a desert.
The little one has gotten a bit grumpy. The game of tables and numbers is not as much fun as it was at the beginning, and he is beginning to wander off too far away from me, occasionally going outside. We pay, and we're on our way. "What are you going to do this afternoon?" I ask Billie Stormzy as we cycle over the boulevard. "Listen to songs," he replies, which in his case means he'll be playing CDs while continuously pressing the pause/play button, watching the numbers pass by on the display. He will, indeed, do this for hours once we get home.
Geen opmerkingen:
Een reactie posten