No bee stories this week, hopefully they are all tucked up and busy keeping warm, although I must make sure they have enough food soon.

<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Uni-Research-xmas-lunchDec19-rotated.jpg"><img class="alignright wp-image-5951" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Uni-Research-xmas-lunchDec19-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="220" height="165" /></a>The university research group I'm involved with had their Christmas lunch this week. I don't often mention the activity because academics seem to work in a completely different way to me and I'm often baffled by what's going on or the lack of apparent progress. The professor and her research assistant seem happy enough so I don't get too animated by the process.

I met with my college friends at Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Wednesday. Having known these people for over 50 years it never ceases to amaze me how the years fall away and we revert to our teenage years, shared sense of humour and views on politics. So refreshing! The sculptures of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Smith_(sculptor)" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">David Smith</a> were very interesting and encouraged several discussions about what we saw in them. I'm always interested in the back story - in Smith's case he was married twice (what happened in his marriages?) and died in a road accident at the age of 59. The only conclusion we came to was that he was a risk taker and maybe that's a characteristic of all artists; working outside the boundaries; living on the edge.

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<a href="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Test-Drive-CX30Dec19.jpg"><img class="alignleft wp-image-5948" src="http://pigyard.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Test-Drive-CX30Dec19-300x225.jpg" alt="" width="260" height="195" /></a>Also this week I had a test drive in the new Mazda CX30. When I originally bought the CX5 I thought it was too large for me however I've become used to the size and the CX30 seems much smaller and lower. If I decide to change the CX5 then there will be a lot to get used to in terms of size and the difference in low torque with the current diesel engine and the petrol 180 bhp of the CX30. In terms of technology I'm impressed by all the gadgets - the head up display on the screen is brilliant. What I do about colour is not an easy choice to make either - do I go for a red or a sombre grey similar to the MX5. I will be making my decision over the next couple of weeks and if I go ahead I hope to take possession by the end of January. Watch this space...