The town where I live, Stockport UK , was once the global epicentre of the felt hat industry. It produced millions of hats annually throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, my wife and I took a guided tour of the Hat Works museum, a once-functional factory full of the old machinery, steeped in historical millinery. We learnt a lot. For example, the links to the slave trade and Frederick Douglass, and Abraham Lincoln’s letter to the workers here. The industry-fuelled mass extinction of beavers in the UK, which saw them being shipped over from Canada (before a more sustainable solution saw 150,000 dead rabbits every week instead). The punishing poisonous process of hat-making itself, that led to countless deaths. And the money made, that was manipulated in an underhand fashion to prevent the GDP of Stockport eclipsing that of London and likely rewriting geographical history. Then there was the Gallery of Hats, with over 400 historical examples of hat styles from around the world, from the functional to the fashionable to the fantastical and everything in between. After lunch at the charity-ran cafe and art installation, we exited through the gift shop… where we both bought a hat! My wife went for a purple Winter Cloche Wool hat, which frames her face wonderfully and shows off her excellent hair. After much deliberation, I went for a black Pork Pie Wool hat, partly because I like the semi-formal nature of it but mostly because it gives off Heisenberg vibes. Both hats are Dentons, a company that is still local to me and very well regarded. If you’re in the neighbourhood and at a loose end, I can highly recommend the museum and the guided tour. And the hats? They’re pretty decent too.

Baseball! Another tournament this weekend. My son’s 13U team is playing up in a 14U tournament again. We won the first game and are readying to start the second. Warm day at the park, so I’ve got my linen on (and my Eazy Shade should count as part of my outfit!).

I’m grateful for evenings like this—sharing time with my two grown children, hearing about their lives, and simply enjoying being together. As parents, we spend years raising them, and it is a special blessing when those relationships mature into genuine friendship and companionship. Tonight, overlooking downtown Durham, NC from a rooftop restaurant, I’m reminded that some of life’s greatest gifts are not found in places or possessions, but in the moments we share with family.

If you’re serious about making your big goals a reality… Tattoo this in your mind: 1. There will never be a perfect time to start. 2. Your time on this earth is limited. Regardless of what the gurus on social media tell you… Those two things are the absolute fucking truth. No, you can’t afford to take it easy for the next 3 years. No, you can’t wait for the “right” time. No, things aren’t just going to happen for you. Quit waiting for perfect conditions. Make a decision. Take action. Force the conditions to work for you. And you can do that today. Today could be the day you look back on 10, 15, or 20 years from now and say… “That was the day everything changed.” Nobody who ever did anything worthwhile sat around waiting for the stars to align. They made a decision. They committed. They went. And nobody who ever won regretted going all in on themselves. Take action today… Or spend the rest of your life sitting on the bench waiting for perfect conditions that will never come. ~ Andy Frisella