Paige Nick's Blog

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This column appeared in The Sunday Times on 13 April 2025.
Nice to be back in their pages again.

I have a thing about lighthouses. The sweeping glow at night lighting the way. Cue a Vivaldi track; the lonely life of the lighthouse keeper, the sound of the ocean, a gull, fifty if you’ve got a roll in your pocket.

So I did a quick search on Air BnB. Did you know, there are more than one hundred and thirty-four lighthouses in Europe alone, that you can rent for a few nights. So maybe I’m not the only one with a thing for lighthouses.

I once stopped over in Mossel Bay and ended up accidentall...

This column first appeared in the Sunday Times (here) on Sunday 21st May 2023.

PULLING THE PLUG – By Paige Nick

I’m in a hotel. Not the kind you’re probably picturing on hearing that. I don’t want to mislead you.

There are different kinds of hotels. This one is a cheap airport hotel, in a very big, expensive city, and everybody knows those are barely even real hotels, they’re more like train stations or purgatory. And nothing at all like a holiday hotel, which is a place of joy...

This column first appeared in The Sunday Times, here on 16th April 2023.

Are you married? Cohabitating? Procrea-habitating, bickerating or just having a roomiemance? Call it whatever you want, when Gwyneth and Chris Paltrow consciously uncoupled, they changed relationship dialect forever.

And if you’re single, you’re probably on your way out the door, but stick around for a minute, there’s something in this that will make you feel happy with your choices too.

I very much liked livin...

This column first appeared in The Sunday Times on 28 March 2021.

I used to believe that there was something funny to be found in any situation. Which is a useful view to hold when you’re a humour writer. But now I’m not so sure.

A few weeks ago, I had surgery on my knee, and now that I’m laid up, I’m wondering if my surgeon also took out my funny bone while he was in there. Because there is literally nothing I can think of that’s funny about any of this.

I guess if you’re not me, my ele...

This column first appeared here in The Sunday Times on 13th December, 2020.

THE BOYFRIEND STACK By Paige Nick

Theres a wall in our family home, filled by my father edge-to-edge with photos of us. My siblings, their spouses and children; playing sport, celebrating milestones, catching fish, growing up too fast.

Since I choose to have no spouse or kids (that I know of), my spot on the wall houses a selfie of myself and an ex on a trip to Liverpool.

When I visited about two years after wed...

This column first appeared here in the Sunday Times on Sunday 23rd November, 2020.

How to NOT write a book in 30 days – By Paige Nick

There’s a lot of writing advice out there. I just rewrote that first line seven times based on two tips I came across earlier: ‘Keep your opening line short.’ And, ‘rewrite, rewrite, rewrite.’

I’m not sure if it’s because there’s so much writing advice out there, but there are writers everywhere. Tell anyone you’re an author and they’ll instantly tell yo...

This column first appeared here in the Sunday Times on Woman’s Day, 9th August 2020.

ACTIVISM IN BLACK AND WHITE – By Paige Nick

“Post your top ten this-thats or your favourite what-nots, or eleventy album covers, no explanation, no captions.” Surely this blurb, which gets copied and pasted onto all of these posts, is both an explanation and a caption?

I don’t get it. But then there’s a lot I don’t get about nomination challenges.

In the latest chainmail to go viral, women around...