Editor’s Diary: May-Britt

The last week before the vacation is always a relay race and I never manage to overcome all the hurdles. So I make choices. What is written in the agenda with waterproof marker is Leco. Despite the new shampoo from Sisley (which is really exceptionally good), there is no movement to be had. Yes, a downward one, but nothing more. Bel has already returned her books and locker key, so she is coming along with me. Leco is not only the best hairdresser in the country, but also the most pleasant and inspiring with the nicest clientele.

So while one is letting her color set, the other is getting a haircut and the third is telling what her wishes are. Leco has already had a little brainstorm with himself about my hair. He feels a bob. Leontine has it now too and he feels that with me as well. I smile at Bel and tell her that I have nothing to say to the maestro. “You do have something to say, but I’m not listening.” And that’s just as well, because Leco pushes me out of my comfort zone every time. I leave the place with a stylish bob, quickly grab a pair of sunglasses (the previous ones I left on a terrace in Paris after too much fun and besides it was light and sunny when I arrived and dark when I left, so yes, one forgets their sunglasses) and send a photo to my love. Anna. He writes back and indeed; the comparison with the editor-in-chief of Vogue US is there, although I hope I am a bit more pleasant.

Thursday is the graduation ceremony at the primary school of Igoné, my youngest. With a tower of watermelon pieces, I walk to the picnic spot where she will have her last lunch of this school year. I look at my watch and think I just make it: the annual speech of Mr. Ad, the principal who is retiring after so many years. During the song for Mr. Gidon (also a favorite who is leaving the school), we slip away. New York is waiting for us. We grab our suitcases and Belize and zoom to Schiphol. There I had the incredible pleasure of using the VIP service. If you ever want to fly truly carefree and feel like a queen (she does this too), treat yourself to this. It’s heaven on earth. Quite pricey, but not expensive when you consider what you get and how much time it saves you. We only had to be there for New York an hour and a half in advance. Yet again three hours gained in which you could have done useful things.

New York

After a long search, we chose Park Land, a hotel on Central Park South. For Belize, it’s the first time in New York and I personally found it amazing to be in Midtown, among the skyscrapers and within spitting distance of Broadway and Times Square, knowing that the Late Night Shows are recorded around the corner, that Alicia Keys will be at Radio City Hall next week where you walked today with your coffee, overlooking the Dakota Building where John Lennon was brutally murdered so many years ago and where Yoko still lives (and Madonna was rejected as a resident, by the way, but that’s beside the point). That wonderful feeling, we wished for her.

We eat at Ellen Stardust where you encounter America times a thousand. Milkshakes, burgers, tacos drowned in melted cheese and singing waiters hoping for a breakthrough a street further.

As we try to overcome our jet lag and watch body-painted ladies on Broadway who have painted the American flag on their butts, a bike taxi passes by where - of course - Alicia Keys is blasting through the provided speaker.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made of
There’s nothing you can’t do

I look at our girl and see that she feels it.

I wish you a wonderful weekend,

May