Brianna Parkins: ‘Shops used to be a sanctuary. Now you’re elbowed out of the way by 12-year-olds reaching over you to sample SPFs’

I dread being asked if I have any ‘fun’ hobbies? As if anyone devotes time to a hobby they find unfun. People get very judgemental about hobbies. You are allowed to say “going to the gym” is a hobby i.e. the picking up and putting down of heavy things. But I cannot say “shopping” without the hobby police shouting: “But that’s not a REAL hobby.” It’s shallow, it’s shameful, it’s consumerist. Rod Stewart is allowed to spend millions on model train sets but I’m the slave...