system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Summer Doldrums

I feel like an idiot complaining about it, but I don't like being an academic in the summer.  While I work over the break (I'm writing a book right now), I miss being in a class, and being in the outside world.  After the rest of the family goes to work/camp, I sit in my office writing or procrastinating (thanks, Reddit).  It gets lonely.  I go to the office once a week or so (it's a bit of a drive) just to get a change of scenery, but nobody but the department administrative assistants are there.  I get bored and weird without human interaction.  I have a sabbatical coming up and I'm considering passing on it because six months of this sounds awful.

Does anybody else feel this way?  How do you keep yourself working, engaged, and happy in such an isolated situation?

All my non-academic friends would kill for a summer "off", but it makes me lonely and a little sad.
gpt
Here in the UK we just hosted a US member of staff who took their sabbatical over here, developing collaborations and using our lab kit.

I guess there's a difference here in STEM vs humanities, but the summer is our opportunity to actually focus on getting the research work done without students in the way. If you're getting lonely, then maybe you should look at developing some collaborative projects?