Strandpaviljoen De Staat

 

It’s a happy day: Billy Stormzy is celebrating his second birthday today. My partner and I have taken the day off and this morning, there was much singing and presents; Billie Stormzy wasn’t particularly interested in either. Instead, he wanted to mostly play with the balloons with which his mother and big sister decorated the living room the evening before.

After bringing his sister to school, we decided to go cycling to the southern dunes. It’s a part of the Scheveningen beaches where we’ve not been before, Billie Stormzy and I, although I visited most beach clubs here together with his sister, a few years ago. The weather is very nice: sunny, with only a few clouds in the sky. Billie Stormzy is wearing a cow onesie. He loves cows. The entire summer, whenever asked for his opinion on something, his feelings or what he wanted to do, his answer was always the same: “cow”. At unexpected moments, he will suddenly start smiling, and say: “Cows fun!”

His interest in cows was sparked by the nearby petting farm, just around the corner from our house. There are two cows there, and he’s been allowed to stroke them a few times. For his birthday, it wasn’t difficult to find presents: anything cow related. Besides a cow onesie, he got a cow book, and a small stuffed cow, among other things. Oh, and a cow poster – in fact, a print of the classic Pink Floyd sleeve for their Atom Heart Mother record, at the same time extremely down to earth and very psychedelic.

It’s always lovely to cycle through the southern dunes. They’re different from the northern ones: there are no small lakes here, so also no reed; it’s mostly rose bushes, dune grass and a few small woods. We stop at one of the entrances to the beach. Google maps tells us that there are two beach clubs down here, so we decide to try our luck. To the right, upon entering the beach, is Strandpaviljoen De Staat, which I remember to be very nice. Popular among the alternative crowd in The Hague, it’s of a majestic design, with lots of ironic references to former communist Eastern Europe – it’s name is Dutch for The State. Rusty iron everywhere, with a kind of industrial majesty as the main design characteristic. Billie Stormzy drags me inside. “Breakfast!” he shouts, and it takes some effort to convince him that with the nice weather, it’s much more pleasant to sit outside. We assure him that there will be food outside as well.

We sit down at two low chairs on the beach. Billie Stormzy strikes a funny figure in his cow onesie among the sand and the sea behind him. He plays a bit in the sand, then sits down on my lap and relaxes. For most of our time at De Staat, he won’t leave my side. “Sit with daddy,” he repeats several times. It is indeed nice to spend some moments together – I’ve been away for most of the week, busy with the opening of the academic year. First, I was invited to give a lecture on storytelling in education for colleagues at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, then I had commitments in Leeuwarden and Groningen, where the department of which I am the daily manager runs an MA and BA programme.

We order the vegetarian State Breakfast for two persons – it will be nice to have some alternatives to meat for a change, and my partner is a vegetarian. When it’s brought, it looks very impressive. Large quantities of scrambled eggs, croissants, different kinds of cheese, American pancakes, an aubergine spread, yoghurt, fresh fruit and two smoothies. It’s huge.

Billie Stormzy claims one pancake and a bit of egg, and we eat most of the rest.  Meanwhile, De Staat is filling up – more and more people arrive, a mixed bunch; some single mothers with kids, young people starting their weekend early, and pensioners. After we’ve eaten and paid, we walk to the sea, then back to our bikes. Suddenly, Billie Stormzy says he’s too warm. Indeed, his synthetic onesie must be sweaty in this weather – he also looks a bit dizzy, so I quickly help him out of it. At first, he’s relieved, but by the time we’re back at our bikes, he’s making a scene, shouting “Clothes! Clothes!” He wants his cow onesie back on. 

Also on Breakfast at the Beach: Jump back in time to when I visited this place with Rihanna Gaga in 2017