September 2025
Back in March, high winds blew a slate off the roof of my house. Luckily, it fell flat onto a heap of snow, and was found intact when the snow melted.
This gate was made by a local blacksmith and the stone wall built by our municipal masons.
How to reposition it posed an interesting challenge, since none of the local contractors was willing to send someone over here to replace a single slate. Weeks went by, then one Sunday afternoon in May, one of those contractors knocked on my door and announced that he was there to do the job himself. Without further ado he scampered onto the roof, replaced the slate and departed, refusing any payment, in less than ten minutes. Such is the stuff of life in rural Galicia.
I bumped into that man the other day, and over coffee, had an interesting conversation about what he sees as a crisis in the making for companies such as his own, that specialise in renovating and repairing old, or 'historic' houses. The problem is largely generational. When he and his brother set up their company thirty-odd years ago, they were in their twenties. Now their own retirements are on the horizon, but although both men have sons and daughters, neither these young people nor their peers want to acquire the skills required to reconstruct historic buildings.
Stonemasons, slaters, carpenters and blacksmiths used to train with older craftsmen, often their own fathers and grandfathers, and once qualified, could count on steady work, whether they operated independently or joined a firm. The most creative of previous generations have left their signatures all over this district, in the form of beautifully composed stone-work, wrought-iron gates and staircases, timber vaulting and patterned slate roofs. Today, as as my friend told me, even unskilled labourers are in short supply, and potential apprentices are fewer still. It seems that new technologies are what excites this generation, even if the jobs in such fields are stressful, imply an urban setting and demand conformity.
'What can we do?' I asked. My friend raised his hands in the air: 'Spread the word that the work is here, that it is needed and valued, that the rewards of acquiring skills are well worth having.' So - since this, and youth unemployment are problems for other countries besides Spain - here's my grain of sand.
Below: Slates inscribed with Camino Aragonese stops greet pilgrims at the albergue in Canfranc, Aragon — lining the staircase (left) and set into the stone wall of the entrance hall (right).
