I love sleep. Not just love, I really love sleep.
I'm one of those people who can do it anywhere – on the sofa, on a plane. I'm a master at grabbing a sneaky few hours’ sleep wherever I can fit it in and have long suspected I could lie down on in the middle of a concrete street on a warm enough day and snooze quite happily.
The long and short of that nugget of information is that Sunday Morning Lie-ins are almost sacred to me.
So when I'm asked to cover a story that requires me to be out of my bed and interacting with other people before 9pm on a Sunday – I bristle!
After reminding myself that I adore my job and that it's always nice to experience something new, I found myself this weekend amidst 17,000 cross-country skiers at Moscow's Annual Ski Trek.
17,000!
All of whom willingly dragged themselves out of bed to then drag themselves over 40km of snowy terrain – I greeted the scene with a mixture of admiration and amusement.
There were many lycra-clad bodies – and lots and lots of families – there was a 5km event for children (there were so many teeny-tiny little kids involved – I had no idea they could even make skis that small!) and even a big fat Labrador with its own racing vest (alas no skis though!).
And you know what? After less than half-an-hour at the event with everyone enjoying themselves against a backdrop of music and delicious shashlik smells from the stalls that were barbecuing, I could not think of a more fun way to spend that particular Sunday morning.
Whilst personally I'll always be a bigger fan of downhill skiing, cross country is big pastime here in Russia, and as with anything that attracts such a huge number of people who sing its praises and look genuinely happy to be doing it – I want in!
So whilst I'm certainly not going to be sacrificing my Sunday morning lie-ins voluntarily anytime soon – it was a good reminder that sometimes there are much better ways to spend your weekend mornings than beneath the duvet!
To watch the story click here
I'm one of those people who can do it anywhere – on the sofa, on a plane. I'm a master at grabbing a sneaky few hours’ sleep wherever I can fit it in and have long suspected I could lie down on in the middle of a concrete street on a warm enough day and snooze quite happily.
The long and short of that nugget of information is that Sunday Morning Lie-ins are almost sacred to me.
So when I'm asked to cover a story that requires me to be out of my bed and interacting with other people before 9pm on a Sunday – I bristle!
After reminding myself that I adore my job and that it's always nice to experience something new, I found myself this weekend amidst 17,000 cross-country skiers at Moscow's Annual Ski Trek.
17,000!
All of whom willingly dragged themselves out of bed to then drag themselves over 40km of snowy terrain – I greeted the scene with a mixture of admiration and amusement.
There were many lycra-clad bodies – and lots and lots of families – there was a 5km event for children (there were so many teeny-tiny little kids involved – I had no idea they could even make skis that small!) and even a big fat Labrador with its own racing vest (alas no skis though!).
And you know what? After less than half-an-hour at the event with everyone enjoying themselves against a backdrop of music and delicious shashlik smells from the stalls that were barbecuing, I could not think of a more fun way to spend that particular Sunday morning.
Whilst personally I'll always be a bigger fan of downhill skiing, cross country is big pastime here in Russia, and as with anything that attracts such a huge number of people who sing its praises and look genuinely happy to be doing it – I want in!
So whilst I'm certainly not going to be sacrificing my Sunday morning lie-ins voluntarily anytime soon – it was a good reminder that sometimes there are much better ways to spend your weekend mornings than beneath the duvet!
To watch the story click here
