{"id":7866,"date":"2022-11-22T20:03:19","date_gmt":"2022-11-22T18:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/?p=7866"},"modified":"2023-01-28T21:05:45","modified_gmt":"2023-01-28T19:05:45","slug":"bedford-more-to-like-than-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/bedford-more-to-like-than-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedford more to like than not"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

A brief stay in Bedford UK<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Published: 22 November 2022 ~ Bedford more to like than not<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rumours that I haven\u2019t posted much to my blog recently have invoked theories ranging from a nasty reaction to not-working sanctions to being fitted up by the British unjudicial system for saying things that are not allowed. But that wasn\u2019t me. Clue: Marvin Gaye, he \u2018Heard it through the Grape Vine\u2019. Whatever the rumours, they are greatly exaggerated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Alas, the explanation is far more mundane: I\u2019ve been on holiday in the UK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA likely story,\u201d says someone who accuses everyone else of conspiracy theories. \u201cI suppose you will be telling us next that you had no access to the internet!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, as it happens, where I was staying, no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Travelling package-style by Hart\u2019s Tours, which would have been a successful company had it not been inaugurated on the eve of the coronavirus experiment, the exclusive hotel in which I would be staying is renowned for containing more antiques than Britain\u2019s got migrants (er, possibly not), but what it has not got is the internet. No point in taking my laptop, thought I; just extra weight to carry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verily, no internet connection and also no TV is an excellent way of detoxifying yourself from the insurgency of cyberspace and the brain-numbing mumbo jumbo thrust wilfully up you by mainstream media. If you are one of those, or even just one of those, who have become enslaved to your iPhone and are concerned about being controlled and tracked on a daily basis by the slippery Silicon Valley Mob, I recommend when visiting England that you opt for Towlson Towers. As a no frills hotel, complete with a host of truly irritating inconveniences, such as 40 watt bulbs where 100 watts should be, cold and cold running water, as many steps in unusual places as one could ever want to trip up, over and down and an invigorating absence of any form of heating (a luxury extra at this establishment even before Britain\u2019s energy crisis took hold), TTs is the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My return to the UK did not take me to London: \u201cLove the history, Fawlty, can\u2019t stand the Woke!\u201d No, I was headed to Bedford, a market town in Bedfordshire, of which C.F. Farrar wrote in his excellent book Old Bedford<\/em> nothing happened for five hundred years. A lot did happen in the many years preceding the five hundred when nothing happened and a lot has happened since, but nothing for the better. Bedford town centre, like every other town and city in the UK, is a sad and sorry reminder of just how radically and irreparably our liberal masters have dismantled and infected what once, without a shadow of a doubt, was one of the greatest countries, if not the<\/em> greatest country, the world has ever known.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Old<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

If you buy into or simply pay lip service, because you are told to do so, so you think you must, to the political mantras about \u2018enrichment\u2019 and \u2018vibrancy\u2019 and all the other embarrassing slogans attached to the back of multiculturalism, which are rattled out like an old tin can tied to a frightened cat\u2019s tail, then go ahead and love it! But for the majority, there is no doubt that there is more to be avoided in modern British society than there is to be enjoyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is not to single Bedford out. Many white British who live in the surrounding villages are very quick to assert, and are adamant with it, that they \u2018never go into the towns!\u2019 wherever those towns may be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acknowledging, therefore, the relevance of the old song lyrics, \u2018Things \u2018aint what they used to be\u2019, let\u2019s briefly escape from the modern-day tragedy of Bedford, representative as it is of the plight and prescient social upheaval that awaits the UK in the not-too-distant future, and dip a little into its past ~ into the real English beginnings and their making of the character of the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford more to like than not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Bedford is a market town and the historic county town of Bedfordshire. Its name is said to derive from an amalgamation of the name of a Saxon chief called Beda and a ford that crossed the River Great Ouse. Offa of Mercia, the Anglo-Saxon king, was buried in Bedford in 796 but is probably no longer there, as his tomb on the banks of the Great River Ouse most likely ensured that he upped and floated away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford had a castle, which was constructed under the auspices of Hugh de Beauchamp, within 20 years of the Norman Conquest in 1066. \u201cThis was the time when it all went wrong!\u201d a friend of mine is fond of saying. He is not necessarily or at least exclusively referring to Bedford itself, of which a lot went wrong in more recent times. He means to imply that it all went wrong with England. \u201cIt\u2019s the fault of those bloody Normans!\u201d he likes to cry, whenever we see a rabbit or driving along through country lanes espy a church with a Norman tower. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Bedford Castle, it all went wrong when a robber baron, Sir Fulke de Breaut\u00e9 (there were a lot of robber barons about in those days), fatally overestimated not only his own importance and invincibility but the impregnability of his castle.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He believed that by kidnapping a judge (as you do) and incarcerating him within his castle, he would prevent the Crown from taking the castle away from him. Instead, he succeeded in getting the castle sieged, bombarded, breached and blown up and a number of people killed, before he was eventually brought to ground himself and exiled to a terrible place where nobody wanted to go, not even in the middle-ages, across the Channel to France!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Catle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today, all that remains of what reputedly was a redoubtable fortification, Bedford Castle, is a large grassy mound. \u201cA great place to sit and eat chips,\u201d someone wrote in a tourist review. I would add to that, “a great place to sit and eat chips whilst pondering British history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford\u2019s Castle Mound is still worth visiting as it is situated in what is easily the most attractive quarter of the town, The Embankment. Getting to it from the town centre enables you to say hello to the town bridge and opposite the Swan Hotel, a classic 18th<\/sup> century edifice built by the Duke of Bedford in 1794-1796, that is to say that the Duke of Bedford commissioned it to be built. I am not suggesting that he was out there at the end of the 18th<\/sup> century with a trowel in one hand and a stone in the other.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Swan<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Swan Hotel<\/strong>
As hotels go, you are not going to get anything as quintessentially 18th<\/sup> century than this outside of Oundle or Stamford! The current Swan Hotel ~ there was an earlier one ~ had the Duke of Bedford commission the well-known London architect Henry Holland to design and build it between 1794~1796. If you stand on the forecourt, you will notice, I know you will, that contrary to Georgian architectural paradigms, the hotel is asymmetrical. The right-hand gate is missing. It was sacrificed in the 1880s to make way for the The Embankment road, which dissected the hotel\u2019s gardens. Inside the hotel is a curious mix of old Georgian and modern swank.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Had you arrived in Bedford before the 1970s, after appreciating the regality of the Swan you would next have been delighted by the magnificent sight of a large and impressive building of neo-Gothic persuasion. The Town and Country Club, as once had been its function and by which it had been known, was, alas, swept away with numerous other buildings of exemplary historical importance, as former Bedford historian Richard Wildman agonises, during a time in which town planning in Britain was the vandalistic equivalent of social engineering today. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bedford
Bedford’s Town & Country Club. One of many historic Bedford buildings destroyed in the 60s and 70s<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Bedford is by no means the only town in the British Isles that bears the scars of the 1960s\u2019 anti-heritage culture, but, as a leaf through any of Richard Wildman\u2019s pictorial history books show, it has the dubious distinction of listing among the legions of the architecturally damned and demolished more than its fair share of victims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford more to like than not<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

So, we pass swiftly on and, as we do, we cannot help admiring the beautifully landscaped and typically English character of the scene as it unfolds. The Great River Ouse meandering calmly away from the city centre, leaving behind lack-lustre Kempston and no-go Queen\u2019s Park, transports you to one of those timeless English vistas replete with sleepy meadows, avenues of trees, formal gardens with floral Victorian beddings, posh rowing clubs, happy swans and geese and some of the finest examples of Gothic Revivalist architecture that you could ever wish to behold in the residential category.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bedford<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Swans<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wealth, prosperity, order, security and dignity all of which was once England presents itself in the large, often vast, red-brick houses and imposing villas that sweep along the Embankment and radiate into the streets beyond. Built in the Gothic Revivalist style at the end of the 19th<\/sup> century, these infinitely desirable properties, with their impressive facades of carved stone, half-timbered gables and deep bay windows, are deceptively more extensive than even the grand scale of their stately frontages suggests. I won\u2019t gild the lily by saying that they seem to go on forever, but some of them tend to go on considerably further than one might expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Above: The Embankment Hotel<\/strong>
Unmissable, thanks to its wonderful and evocative medieval-style half-timbered fa\u00e7ade, the Embankment Hotel and Restaurant occupies a prime place overlooking Bedford\u2019s Embankment Promenade and the River Great Ouse. The 1891-built hotel boasts that it has no \u2018stuffy resident\u2019s bar\u2019, which is all well and good, but what it does have, especially on a Friday and Saturday night, is a very noisy public bar, which does tend to dilute the otherwise genteel image. In its defence, however, try finding a pub in Bedford on a Friday or Saturday night that does not resemble a cattle market! Go there in the week!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The following photographs were taken on a bright, late October morning in 2022. We perambulated with the best of them along the Embankment Prom and then crossed over to the meadows on the other side of the river via the landmark Victorian Suspension Bridge.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Walking
One barks the other bites!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bedford
Happiness is obviously an arse that fits!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Mick
Bedford Suspension Bridge<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bedford<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bedford<\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"John<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Suspension Bridge<\/strong>
Bedford Suspension Bridge, a landmark architectural feature, was constructed in 1888. It provides access from The Embankment to Mill Meadows. The bridge was designed by John James Webster, the remit being to allow the passage of sailing boats.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"Plaque<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
\"Bedford
View from the Suspension Bridge towards the town centre<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Bedford
Butterfly Bridge<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n
\n
\"Butterfly<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Butterfly Bridge<\/strong>
And please, don\u2019t ask why do they call it Butterfly Bridge?! It opened in 1997 and was designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects, reputedly as a late 20th<\/sup> century\/early 21st<\/sup> century equivalent to Webster\u2019s 1888 Suspension Bridge, each bridge landmarking the end and beginning of their respective centuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bedford<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Unless you live in a vacuum, believing that this is how it is, how it was and always will be, me and my mobile phone, it should not be incredibly difficult to imagine what scenes of elegance were once to be found as the Edwardian upper classes strutted their decorous stuff along the walk at Bedford Embankment. And if you cannot imagine, use it as an excuse to call in at the Three Cups public house on Newnham Street, where not only will you find an exciting, changing range of delicious British real ales but also framed black and white photographs of Bedford Embankment as it looked at the turn of the 20th<\/sup> century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Three Cups, Newnham Street, Bedford. Real Ales & Atmosphere!<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"Halloween<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Halloween<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Above: A rare sight. The locals of the Three Cups looking more normal than usual on Halloween<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Check out the style of the chaps in their striped blazers and boater hats (I am referring now to the pictures on the walls!) and the ladies of quality in their crisp, light dresses or perfectly turned-out dress suits, nipped in at the waist, embellished with lace and other feminine attributes. Yes, there really was a time when the people of the British Isles were not as they are today, less better dressed than a boat load of Navy-escorted grinning migrants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bedford, it’s not a bad place. Put it on your visiting list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More about Bedford<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
\"War<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"WWII<\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"War<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Embankment War Memorial<\/strong>
The War Memorial on Bedford\u2019s Riverside Walk was sculpted by Charles S Jagger and is situated opposite Rothsay Road. Made from Portland Stone and marble, it commemorates the fallen in three wars: the First World War, Second World War and Korean War.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Boer War Monument<\/strong>
The impressive and detailed monument that stands in front of the Swan Hotel, Bedford, surmounted by an infantryman in full battledress, pays tribute to the 237 Bedfordshire men who lost their lives in the Boer War, 1899-1902.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Boer<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Jon<\/figure>
\n

John Bunyan statue<\/strong>
Every town is known for someone. In Bedford, it\u2019s mainly John Bunyan, thanks to the large bronze statue of him that stands at the crossroads at the top of Bedford High Street. John Bunyan was about in the mid-to-late 17th<\/sup> century. He was an English Christian writer and dissenter, an occupation that saw him committed to Bedford County Gaol on two occasions. Apart from being locked up, Bunyan was, of course, famous for having authored the Christian allegory The Pilgrim\u2019s Progress<\/em>, most of which, it seems, was written during the two periods when he was languishing in gaol. The book was eventually published in 1678. This monumental work of literature, which has never been out of print and has been translated into more than 200 languages, influenced many a literary genius, among them Charles Dickens, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville. Bunyan\u2019s Bedford connections and life history are celebrated in the John Bunyan Museum in Beford. The statue is magnificent; the museum a source of serious historical reflection. {photo credit: Simon Speed}<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

\n
\"Glenn
Glenn Miller<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Glenn Miller<\/strong>
The legendary American big band leader, Glenn Miller, was billeted in Bedford, to be more precise in Bedfordshire in Milton Ernest Hall. He took his last fateful flight from Twinwood Airfield, now home to the biggest swing music festival in the UK. A bronze bust of Miller occupies pride of place in a niche in the wall of Bedford Corn Exchange, which was built and opened in 1874, still functions as a concert venue and plays host to the annual Bedford Beer Festival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Bedford
Bedford Corn Exchange<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"Cardington<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Cardington and the airships<\/strong>
Just outside of Bedford lies the old Cardington airbase, what is left of it. Like every other square foot in the UK, it has been covered in concrete and bricks. Because that is what the UK needs: more houses for more people! Nevertheless, the Cardington Sheds still dominant the skyline; the massive hangars in which the great airships of the early 20th<\/sup> century were constructed. It was from these \u2018sheds\u2019 that the fated, experimental R101 was hauled out to make its maiden voyage to France, where it crashed killing 48 passengers and crew on board. The remains of the dead are buried in a mass grave in Cardington Cemetery. A monument in the church opposite provides a roll of honour, naming those who lost their lives in this historic misadventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"John<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

John Howard<\/strong>
Most people who are not as thick as two short planks (innit?) will know that the large bronze statue standing at the crossroads to Bedford High Street is John Bunyan. But who is that other chap overlooking the weekly market, holding his face in his right hand and staring pensively down at the ground? That\u2019s Bedford\u2019s second celebrity, the eighteenth-century philanthropist and prison-conditions reformer, John Howard, cast in bronze by the celebrated, if not occasionally controversial, sculptor, Sir Alfred Gilbert, creator of the Eros statue in Piccadilly Circus, London. Whenever I look at the pose and expression of John Howard, I cannot help but think that having watched over the centre of Bedford since 1894, he has accumulated serious doubts as to whether his reformation work was after all a misappropriation of time and effort. He is most likely silently advocating, \u201cBring back the birch!\u201d. He also has a statue in Ukraine ~ not many people know that!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Higgins Art Gallery and Museum
<\/strong>A short walk from Bedford Embankment in the area known as the Castle Quarter, The Higgins Art Gallery and Museum, known as The Higgins after Bedford\u2019s prominent Higgin\u2019s family and its connection with the museum site, is the culmination of a six-million-pound project that effectively united three cultural venues: Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford Museum and Bedford Gallery. Higgins, who was a brewer, so he must have been a good man, left detailed instructions in his will as to how the museum would be run and organised. Structurally, the museum is fascinating in itself. It links the old brewery buildings in Castle Lane with the Higgins\u2019 family home and incorporates the Hexagonal Gallery, which was built in the early 19th<\/sup> century on the foundations of Bedford Castle. I like old breweries and social history, so both the industrial building and the Higgins\u2019 family home are sources of wonder to me. The museum provides the opportunity to appreciate impressive collections of fine and decorative arts and highly accredited watercolours, so you can brush up on your knowledge of antiques whilst learning all you need to know about Bedford, its people and the history of the town.
Website: https:\/\/www.thehigginsbedford.org.uk\/Home.aspx<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Image attributions:<\/strong>
Glenn Miller Bust, Corn Exchange Bedford: Simon Speed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:GlennMillerBustBedford.JPG<\/a>
Bedford Corn Exchange: Simon Speed, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:BedfordCornExchange.JPG<\/a>
John Bunyan Statue Bedford: Simon Speed, https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File:JohnBunyanStatueBedford.jpg<\/a>
Cardington Sheds: G1MFG<\/a> (talk<\/a>) | https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/File:Cardington_Sheds_9881.JPG<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 2018-2022 Mick Hart. All rights reserved.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that’s not all …<\/strong>
UK Identity Crisis & it’s Impact on Patriotism<\/a>
Woke & Hypocrisy. It really is God Save the King!!<\/a>
Thinking about moving to the UK? Think again!<\/a>
April Fool’s Day Mandate for NHS Workers!<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A brief stay in Bedford UK Published: 22 November 2022 ~ Bedford more to like than not Rumours that I haven\u2019t posted much to my blog recently have invoked theories ranging from a nasty reaction to not-working sanctions to being fitted up by the British unjudicial system for saying things that are not allowed. But […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_themeisle_gutenberg_block_has_review":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[2026,2027,2036,2033,2030,2031,2028,2035,2029,2037,2032,2034],"class_list":["post-7866","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meanwhile-in-the-uk","tag-bedford-more-to-like-than-not","tag-bedford-uk","tag-butterfly-bridge-bedford","tag-embankment-hotel-bedford","tag-john-bunyan-statue-bedford","tag-john-howard-statue-bedford","tag-mick-hart-in-bedford","tag-suspension-bridge-bedford","tag-the-embankment-bedford","tag-the-higgins-museum-and-art-gallery","tag-the-swan-hotel-bedford","tag-the-three-cups-bedford"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Bedford-Embankment-2022-rz-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1920&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":8947,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/its-that-man-in-the-russian-hat-in-bedford\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":0},"title":"It\u2019s that man in the Russian hat in Bedford!","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"28 \u043c\u0430\u044f, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"May this fair land we love so\u00a0well in dignity and freedom dwell 28 May 2023 ~ It\u2019s that man in the Russian hat in Bedford! Great news! That is, great news if you are a dinosauric socialist or a politically challenged liberal: the results of the UK local elections suggest\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2023"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2023","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/mick-harts-diary-2023\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"In the Russian Hat in Bedford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Russian-Hat-Pint-of-English-Beer-min-1.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Russian-Hat-Pint-of-English-Beer-min-1.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Russian-Hat-Pint-of-English-Beer-min-1.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/Russian-Hat-Pint-of-English-Beer-min-1.jpg?fit=896%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":12480,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/bedford-mill-meadow-on-an-ephemeral-afternoon\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":1},"title":"Bedford Mill Meadow on an Ephemeral Afternoon","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"30 \u043c\u0430\u0440\u0442\u0430, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cI became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity.\u201d \u00a0~ Edgar Allan Poe Revised 31 July 2025 | first published 30 March 2025 ~ Bedford Mill Meadow on an Ephemeral Afternoon Once upon a time, whilst wandering lonely as a cloud (has anybody else done this?) along Bedford\u2019s magnificent Victorian\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Mick Hart's Diary 2025"","block_context":{"text":"Mick Hart's Diary 2025","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/mick-harts-diary-2025\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Broken Heart","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Broken-Heart-min.png?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Broken-Heart-min.png?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Broken-Heart-min.png?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Broken-Heart-min.png?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Broken-Heart-min.png?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9192,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/frozen-peas-in-bedford-supermarket-is-no-woke\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":2},"title":"Frozen Peas in Bedford Supermarket is No Woke","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"1 \u0430\u0432\u0433\u0443\u0441\u0442\u0430, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"\"I don't see it like that!\" All it took was a bag of frozen peas left on the end of the checkout conveyor belt, my public spiritedness and up went the balloon. And it was high drama at the local supermarket. 1 August 2023 ~ Frozen Peas in Bedford Supermarket\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2023"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2023","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/mick-harts-diary-2023\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mick Hart with frozen peas in Bedford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Mick-Hart-with-bag-of-frozen-peas-expatkaliningrad-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Mick-Hart-with-bag-of-frozen-peas-expatkaliningrad-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Mick-Hart-with-bag-of-frozen-peas-expatkaliningrad-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Mick-Hart-with-bag-of-frozen-peas-expatkaliningrad-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Mick-Hart-with-bag-of-frozen-peas-expatkaliningrad-min.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2772,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/coronavirus-the-ghosts-of-christmas-past\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":3},"title":"Coronavirus & The Ghosts of Christmas Past","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"23 \u0434\u0435\u043a\u0430\u0431\u0440\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mick Hart\u2019s Christmas Message from Russia (Not to be confused with the Queen\u2019s Speech) Published: 23 December 2020 When I see and read about the mushrooming angst as my fellow Brits try to come to terms with the first coronavirus Christmas in the UK, I breathe a sigh of relief\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Meanwhile in the UK"","block_context":{"text":"Meanwhile in the UK","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/meanwhile-in-the-uk\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The ghost of Christmas Past!","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/The-Ghost-of-Christmas-Past.jpeg?fit=500%2C529&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3200,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/moving-to-russia-from-the-uk\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":4},"title":"Moving to Russia from the UK","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"20 \u0444\u0435\u0432\u0440\u0430\u043b\u044f, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Why I left the UK and moved to Kaliningrad Published: 20 February 2021 I was sitting in the office of our antique shop. It was a bright, sunny afternoon one Saturday in June. A couple whom we knew as being members of the 1940s\u2019 crowd had just parked their 1935\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "Diary 2021"","block_context":{"text":"Diary 2021","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/kaliningrad-mick-harts-diary\/diary-2021\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UK as the sinking cultural ship","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5TReey5Gc.jpg?fit=800%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5TReey5Gc.jpg?fit=800%2C664&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5TReey5Gc.jpg?fit=800%2C664&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/5TReey5Gc.jpg?fit=800%2C664&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1574,"url":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/bottled-beer-in-kaliningrad\/","url_meta":{"origin":7866,"position":5},"title":"Bottled Beer in Kaliningrad","author":"Captain Codpiece","date":"21 \u0438\u044e\u043d\u044f, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Mick Hart's totally biased review of bottled beers in Kaliningrad (or how to live without British real ale!) Preface Published: 21 June 2020 ~ Bottled Beer in Kaliningrad Prompted by no other motivation than a love of beer drinking, I have decided to review some of the bottled beers I\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0412 "VISITOR'S GUIDE to KALININGRAD"","block_context":{"text":"VISITOR'S GUIDE to KALININGRAD","link":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/category\/visitors-guide-to-kaliningrad\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mick Hart at The Wellington Arms Bedford","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Mick-at-The-Wellington.jpg?fit=868%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Mick-at-The-Wellington.jpg?fit=868%2C960&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Mick-at-The-Wellington.jpg?fit=868%2C960&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/expatkaliningrad.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Mick-at-The-Wellington.jpg?fit=868%2C960&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/expatkaliningrad.com\/ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}