Boisil welcomes the boy Cuthbert; What’s the Point? And George Eliot ponders the delights of Cream, straight from the Udder

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️Good afternoon and all my very best wishes to you on this Tuesday towards the end of July 2025.  How can it be?  When I received my Regular Commission on passing out from Sandhurst in 1996, I noted with incredulity that the date I would have to retire as an army officer was May 2027.  This date seemed ridiculously futuristic and I remember feeling ecstasy at having so many years ahead of me.  And here we are, just two years away from 2027.  Years of different jobs, getting married, having children, buying homes, losing my mum, Covid, sickness and  health.  It flashes by, one day at a time.  The phrase ‘look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ is applicable to life: ‘look after the days and the years will look after themselves’.  So let’s look after the days, understanding that a peaceful day today, when  we are kind to people including ourselves, will lead to a happier, more content life. We don’t need to grandly strategise the years if we handle each day with courage, wisdom and grace.Love Gretel  Support the showGretel le Maître likes to look for the beauty and curiosities in life, one day at a time.  She shares with you snippets from books about history, art and literature and regularly takes you on adventures to new locations, to explore churches, cathedrals and architecture.  We’ve reached over 80,000 downloads.  Don’t try to listen in order, unless you’re very committed.  Dip in and out, choosing an episode based on the title information.  Whether you are interested in history, literature, poetry or one-to-one chatting, I try to give you something that will interest you.  This is a podcast for the curious, the kind and - possibly - the suffering or lonely.  Historian Tom Holland is the Honorary Patron of this podcast.  Thank you Tom🙏 Gretel invites you to accompany her as she navigates the world a day at a time;  the podcast is unscripted, it’s ad-free.Gretel loves the world and history, architecture, literature and people. And so is determined to walk this path with light footsteps and with humour and warmth.  Let’s gather up the beautiful things and ponder them in our hearts.Top 10 in Global Rankings according to Listen Notes.  I would be so grateful if you would spare the time to give me a kind review ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 😬☺️🥴Previous guests include  historian Tom Holland; Sir Richard Eyre; Actors Guy Henry and Enzo Cilenti; Art historian Philip Mould; Writer David Willem; Author Nicola Cornick; Composer Matthew Coleridge; Vicar Angela T...