Hardy’s Woodlanders are out of sorts; Pepys’ life blossoms; and Swifts and Gulls whirl about Gretel’s garden

Listener mail is warmly welcomed 🙋‍♀️ Thank you so much for joining me. I’ve had a lovely message from one of my wonderful subscribers that I’ve asked permission to share here:Hi Gretel, I really enjoyed today’s (Tuesday) episode, especially the ambient noise 😊. I love hearing the birds, bells, traffic, etc, as a background. Your topic of “what’s the point?” really resonated with me because I’ve had to live my life with that mindset since I was about 20. It’s a long story, but I’ll just say that I never achieved success in any conventional sense and instead learned to find happiness and fulfillment in small ways. “Ambition “ and “goals “ haven’t been in my vocabulary for 50 years, but I don’t think I missed anything. I figure that if I don’t have a point in life, I’m a lot more cuddly!’ I think she makes such a good point: ‘I figure that if I don’t have a point in life, I’m a lot more cuddly’. I do think we need point, but it’s for us to reinvent it and renew it daily, perhaps. And not crucify ourselves when goalposts shift and change. I wish you a peaceful Wednesday evening. 🙋‍♀️ Support the show Gretel 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...