Louis, I’m terribly sorry, for all of us but particularly for you because I know that was a big piece of your daily routine.  What are you going to do for a joint?

Nancy, I’ve got a place for my morning coffee already lined up–it’s in a church that doubles as a sort of restaurant; it just opened last Monday and hardly anyone knows about it.  It’s nice and quiet too.  Just what I want.

FYI, before there was the Bon Ton for my mornings, I spent ten years going to the Jerry’s restaurant chain.  (I only stopped going there when they tore the building down.)  That coffee was to die for!  It really tore the morning cobwebs out of my head.

Before that it was 14 years of going to the Grandy’s fried chicken restaurant chain every morning for coffee.  (That coffee wasn’t as good, but it was better than nothing.)  (I left there when they wouldn’t turn down their overhead music after I requested it; I couldn’t hear myself think–not something I want to listen to that early in the morning when my head is pounding; I need quiet.)

Before that there was at least 10 years of going to Howard Johnson’s every morning until they went out of business.

Every morning of my adult life (since about 1976) has always started the day in a restaurant with a fork in one hand and a book or magazine in the other.  I’ve been accustomed to this routine for so long that it would just seem weird to start off the day any other way.