My New Hobby

playLIST

Introducing our monthly playLIST: the ultimate soundtrack to this issue, as curated by The List team. my new hobby

Enthused by changes in her life, Ellen Cranston takes the plunge with some wild swimming

Discover songs by featured artists including: Róisín Murphy, Mitski, Elvis Presley, Bemz, Luke La Volpe, Phoebe Bridgers, Perfume Genius, Joan As Police Woman, Bikini Kill, Duran Duran, Tiberius B, Kathryn Joseph, Max Richter, and many more…

Scan and listen as you read:

At the start of this year, I moved into a flat in Portobello having begun a new job in Edinburgh. Like many locals, I gravitate towards the beach first thing, in search of some serenity before the day trippers flood the promenade. It was here that I stumbled across a community of sea swimmers, who huddle together around Portobello Baths and ooze infectious enthusiasm, even on days when the haar refuses to lift. Full of optimism from my new job and a new home, I bought a wetsuit on payday and waded out beyond the waves. While I appreciate the silent nods of camaraderie I now share with fellow swimmers in Porty, I’ve found great peace from solitary plunges in the pink evening light that so often warms the beach. My new hobby has now taken me further afield to fresh shores and lochs, where I’ve even begun to forgo my wetsuit and learned to breathe through the initial panic induced by dunking in cold water. Like so many things, it’s never as bad as it first seems, and the reward is well worth the perseverance. n Ellen Cranston is Events Co-ordinator and Campaigns Assistant at RETRO Birlinn publishers; birlinn.co.uk PERSPECTIVE

INTERESTING PEOPLE

If Normal People taught us anything, it’s that mediocre Irish people shagging and discussing liberalism is the gift that keeps on giving. Yet, sort-of follow-up Conversations With Friends has been mocked for its glacial pace, charmless characters and dodgy accents (we’re looking at you, Joe Alwyn). Maybe it’s time we moved on from dramas about dullards and back to extraordinary people doing something, you know, interesting?

CELEBRITY COURTROOMS

It seems we’re all losing our collective grasp on reality as ludicrous spats between celebrities make their way into the daily news cycle. The more trivial of the current two (the Wagatha Christie saga) shows the seedy underbelly of British tabloid culture. But the defamation trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp is just plain hard to stomach. ‘No publicity is bad publicity’, they say. We’re not so sure.