Veni Vidi Pizza

There's only one place left at De Pier that we haven't visited, and today we're giving it a try - mainly because nothing else is open. We will need to find a new roaming ground in the new year. As always, Billie Stormzy is happy to take a walk around De Pier. This morning, he went to pre-school for the first time on a Friday. We took the decision to send him to pre-school second day per week for two reasons. First, it gives me some extra hours to work per week, which comes in handy because I started teaching an extra course at a university of applied sciences - partly because this offered me the opportunity to do something I love, namely teaching students how to become good storytellers; but also partly because this may lead to a larger position there, which I am quite interested in, becoming more and more tired of the chaos of the department I am leading at my current job. The second reason, however, is that Billie Stormzy really loves pre-school. It gives him a taste of what school is like, with lots of opportunities to learn. Especially the fact that his love for numbers and counting is taken very seriously here, makes him happy to go there more often. 

It is becoming quite clear that his mind is a bit special. His amazing talent for numbers, to remember numbers in different languages, and to remember series of numbers is getting him noticed. When he suddenly started multiplying with 9 in class a few weeks ago, his pre-school teacher asked us whether she could ask a specialist at the school where his sister goes to, and where he will most likely go to himself as well, for help to keep him happy and challenged. His mother and I will speak to this specialist next week to discuss possibilities with her as well. Oblivious to all this, but perfectly happy, Billie Stormzy is now walking with me through the main hallway of De Pier. I told him we were going to have pizza, which he showed no interest in, telling me instead he wanted French fries. Now, however, he says: "I've got an idea! Shall we have pizza?" I reply that this is a great idea, and we walk to the place where I was planning to go to anyway, Veni Vidi Pizza.  

"Is this where they have pizza?" Billie Stormzy asks enthusiastically when I tell him we've arrived. The girl behind the counter smiles and says that they certainly have pizza, to which the little one responds with a "Yes!" shouted from the top of his lungs. "In fact," the girl says, I need to check whether the kitchen is ready." She glances over her shoulder, just as a man appears in the doorway. The man nods when she asks him whether we can order, and I'm relieved that I don't have to disappoint Billie Stormzy. I order a pizza funghi and a Westmalle Tripel for myself. "And an apple juice!" Billie Stormzy shouts, without turning down the volume. "And an apple juice," I tell the girl. She gives me the drinks and tells me the pizza will be served when ready. 

We sit down in a corner behind the cubicle where we placed our order. Billie Stormzy climbs on my lap and together we gaze out of the window. I look at the waves breaking on the sand and people walking on the beach. Billie Stormzy is looking at something else: the large Ferris wheel of De Pier. Or, more precisely, he's looking at the numbers printed on the cabins of that Ferris wheel, saying them out loud whenever they appear. His mood remains upbeat, and he's extremely cuddly, putting up his hand every once in a while to reach behind him and stroke my cheek. 

Then, the pizza is brought. "Those, I don't want," Billie Stormzy says, pointing at the champignons on teh pizza. He is, however, more than happy to have the rest of the pizza: the dough, tomatoes and cheese. I feed him bits and every once in a while I manage to smuggle a bit of mushroom hidden in them. The pizza tastes great: a rich, full flavour, with lots of garlic. However, it does fail one important test for pizzas: the dough is extremely flaccid, to the point where it is impossible to pick up a slice and eat it. The whole thing just sort of drips as I pick it up, soiling my hands. 

As always, the songs played on De Pier are from the eighties: power ballads to start with, but soon Madonna and Michael Jackson are at it again. There is something quite weird about this insistence on that particular period in time by whomever picks the music here. I wonder whether it is a conscious choice. One suspects it is, given that De Pier is filled with arcade machines from around the same years - this is one of the reasons why Billie Stormzy likes it here so much: he loves strolling past these machines, looking at their flickering lights, listening to their beeping sounds, and pressing their buttons. 

When we've finished the pizza, I sip my beer while Billie Stormzy wanders around. Suddenly, and almost out of nowhere, he says: let's go home. I ask him what he wants to do. The reply is the usual one whenever I ask him what he will do when we get home: "Listen to songs" With that, he means he will go to our old soundsystem, put on a cd of children's songs, and repeatedly press play and pause to watch the digits on the little screen progress. Once he has decided he wants to go, his mood swings. Like any three year old, he has zero patience and he finds it hard to accept that I still need to finish my bear. Soon he is pulling at my hand, shouting that he wants to leave. I take him on my lap again, warn him to be more quiet, and he sits there grumbling while I take my last few sips of beer a. "You're ready now?" he says, as soon as he sees my glass is empty. I nod and he jumps up. I put on his coat and as we walk away from Veni Vidi Pizza, he completely forgets he was in a hurry only seconds ago. It will take us a while before we reach De Pier's exit, as he needs to check every number, and press every button of the arcade machines we pass.