JM Snacks

We're still hanging around at the southern end of the boulevard - I've decided to start at one end and just make my way to the other end of the boulevard, week after week, visiting one place after another as I make my way along the sea. Anything that's open when we walk by and has a view on the sea will be visited and reviewed. When I say 'boulevard', I mean the stretch of bicycle road, seaside pavillion and regular road that connects the Scheveningen harbour to the northeren dunes. In the winter, when all the beach clubs are closed, it's mostly a quiet place with that typical out-of season beachside resort feel to it.

Across the road from last post's Aloha, but still with a view on the beach and the sea - albeit also on a row of parked cars in front of that - is JM Snacks. It's a very different atmosphere here from the laid-back surfer's vibes of Aloha and it's next-door neighbour, Hart Beach. JM Snacks is what its name promises: a place where you go for a hearty snack or comfort food. French fries, hamburgers, and lots of deep fried seafood.

At first, I assume JM Snack's interior is an aesthetic choice: untreated wood and fake driftwooden tables, alongside advertisements for snacks. A nice touch is that there is a blue plastic bottle (of a certain bottled water brand) on every table, with some leaves in them, as well as rows of aloë vera. However, the seventies snack shack feel turns out to be not so much deliberate, as the result of the fact that this is temoral housing. Every once in a while, the television screens proudly show what JM Snacks will look like when its permanent housing is finished: a glass and concrete, futuristic looking affair that probably will not keep the untreated wood or seventies feel of its current incarnation.

The patrons are quite different from the ones across the street, too. Middle-aged to elderly, they are eating quietly, reading newspapers or talking softly. I pick surimi shrimps, because they look deliciously, and have a tea, too. Food here is cheap - together this only sets me back €7,50. This is not breakfast. It's already half past one in the afternoon. This morning we had a fysiotherapist coming over to check out Billie Stormzy. He's got a preference for turning his head to the right and this is leading to asymetrical development of his head and shoulders. She told us some tricks, such as holding him in a certain way. I pick him up and hold him the way she taught us - he seems very happy to be held this way: lying on my arm, his face away from me, he's making content noises.

My food is brought. The surimi shrimps have been deep fried and come with cocktail sauce. They're greasy but tasty: good in their kind. As I eat them, a man enters and walks to the counter to say hi to the two very friendly ladies standing there. Without him having to place an order, one of the women hands him a can of beer and a plastic cup. He sits down next to me and starts drinking, gazing out over the sea. Two other customers, an elderly couple, are getting ready to leave, but once they've got their coats on they start chatting with the ladies about the neighbourhood, the schools their children and grandchildren go to and whatever else is on their mind. It's clear the couple comes here more often and at a certain point the old lady even says: "We're your most faithful customers!"

I finish my tea and consider ordering a hot chocolate. Some newly arrived customers have one and it looks nice. However, I decide I won't have time, because we have to pick up Billie Stormzy's big sister from school quite soon. I place Billie Stormzy on my lap, because I notice he's started to look at the television screens and he can sometimes get a bit stressed when he gets too much visual or audio stimuli.

Then, it's time to go. I put Billie Stormzy back in the pram and leave JM Snacks. They're working on beach maintenance - right next to the sea, some machines are spraying up sand, surrounded by flocks of screaming seagulls. I've got enough time to make my way to Rihanna Gaga's school and stroll leisurely along the boulevard.