So it’s summer break in the northern hemisphere. And there’s a lot of advice about. About how to use the summer productively. You need to take a well-deserved break. Don’t over stretch yourself. Make a realistic plan Try to include some things that are going to be enjoyable.

That’s great advice. I agree with all of that. Yay to a break. Yay to getting some things done.

However, this ideal summer doesn’t quite fit my reality. so when I read this kind of advice I do wonder how I could actually do it. And how many of us it actually applies to.

Now a caveat. I’m not saying that what follows is right. But I am saying that the reality for many people working in universities is that taking this advice is not that easy. Take me as an example of your typical old privileged professor.

At the end of this academic year I have a load of things left on my to-do list. A big truck load. Some of them are the things that I have been putting off just because I can. But there comes a time of reckoning… And there are things that I can’t put off because they take place during summer. Let’s face it, the academy doesn’t actually shut down just because the weather is better.

For a start, PhDers in the north often rely on the summer as a time to get through some major work. This is the time for competing PhDs to make the last big push on their thesis texts. And this means they don’t get a break. And their supervisors also need to be on deck, often responding quite quickly to troublesome issues that could make a big difference to the final result. And for part time PhDers who are mostly working, summer may well be the best time to produce a lot of words, and to get feed-back on them from their supervisors. They can even meet in person during summer, something which is well nigh impossible during term time. So while PhDers and their supervisors should take some time out, summer is also work time. 

As well, some of the big UK research funders have deadlines at the beginning of the next academic year. So if you want to design and write a really good research bid then you really do have to put time aside over summer to get it done. And this bid development has to be timed so that it fits with the plans of other people. Everyone wants to grab some time off with their families, but it can be logistically tricky to work around everyone’s breaks.

What’s more, many academics (both permanently and precariously employed) rely on summer as The Time when they can focus on analysing some data or doing some sustained writing. Loads of books and papers wouldn’t ever get written if it wasn’t for the possibility of a few extended periods of summer time at the desk. 

Then there’s teaching. As the end of term is generally taken up with marking, exam boards and planning meetings, the summer is often the time when we can get materials for the next year together. Even if this involves working on something that you’ve taught before, most people spend quite a bit of time in summer revising in the light of what didn’t work so well last year. And updating resources because of changes in thinking, publications or social context. 

Of course, there are also conferences. Conferences are work. Even if they are held in nice places and there are opportunities to hear interesting new work, connect with colleagues and make exciting plans for the future, this is still work. Conferences are full on. You arrive home from a conference generally needing at least a day or two to recover. 

I’m sure you can add other things that are coming up in your immediate future. And of course I do know that some people will be spending their summer time looking for jobs and applying for whatever is going. And that they would be very happy to have my kind of summer workload facing them.

And so here is my summer lot. It’s not, as I suggest, atypical. A load of references to write for colleagues and students, they need to be personal and considered. Various peer reviews I’ve managed to delay until just now. A couple of submissions to policy bodies which have to be concise, persuasive and well evidenced – not a rush job. Responses to two government consultations. Finalising a research report. Responding to texts from completing doctoral researchers. if I’m lucky I’ll be able to make a start on some of my own contracted and promised writing.

However, I will take a little bit of time off. But not a lot. I have booked myself into a silversmithing week and a few days at the seaside. But by and large, the summer will be – again, and as it is every year – a time to try to catch up so I can start the new year without feeling too overwhelmed or guilty. So yes I do need to plan how to get this all done. I have to approach summer as if it was a limited project and carefully manage my time so that I do get everything off my list. 

Do I wish it was otherwise? Hell yes. Do I think this is a good way to work? Hell no. 

But I know that I am not alone in facing a working summer. There will be a load of variations on my set of tasks, all over the country and beyond. The reality is that many of us will still be working away for the next few weeks in between a welcome and much needed scheduled short break.

And not unrelated –  patter is late publishing today because I’ve been at a conference for the last three days. The plane home was delayed and so it was a pretty late night last night. And I just didn’t blog. So even the best paid plans and routines can get disrupted pretty easily. 

I hope you get your list of things done this summer. ‘ll be working on doing just that.

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