The Potter

Took the team to see some of the potteries in São Pedro do Corval, shame it was a bit late and most folk had gone home, but Sr António was still working, making olive oil dribblers (if anyone knows the correct name, please tell me!). 

It was fascinating watching him take a lump from the columns of clay on the right (which come from Barcelona), and in minutes form the dribbler, almost without looking. He's been making pottery all his life, learnt as a boy from his father, but his two kids are now a nurse and an economist, a common story here, and the reason traditional skills, including farming, are dying out. After the 1974 Carnation Revolution, the poor of the Alentejo had hopes for a better future and most parents did all they could to ensure their children had more respected jobs. The result is that there is no-one to pass their now denigrated skills on to.

When I refused a plastic bag, he told how they used to make huge pots to hold olives and wine and water, but then plastic arrived, and no-one wanted the heavy, breakable pottery ones anymore. It does make me sad.

Extra of the finished product, in a traditional design; he also does more modern ones.

Gratefuls:
- that such skills still survive
- the lovely Roma family harvesting our olives, would love to have taken a photo of the baby sitting in the pile of olives, covered in olive stains
- walking into town on a beautiful, cold, sunny day