In sunny Italy, there are street vendors who sell, of all things, slices of buttered and salted toasted bread. No, honest, ask around. My wife kept me from completely buying out one of the vendors. The bread is called panera.

Well, Panera is also the name for a bakery coffee-shop restaurant. I think it may have gone national as they have sprung up all over central Ohio. Someone’s getting a lot of money on the local franchise. I think the ones in my area are all under one clever manager.

Anyway, it’s a very pleasant shop for quietly writing stories, job-hunting, coffee drinking (no specialty coffees) or just chatting. They do need a few more power outlets, though.

It’s not always a perfect visit, and I have used their suggestion page (I call it the complaint page). If I need to repeat on an issue, I include the following statement:

“This should be an ongoing change in work-lifestyle, not just a one-time-hit because someone saw something and dropped you a note.”

Seems to work. It’s a nice place.