I have no idea how old it is. For as far back as I can remember this sat in the kitchen of Nana and Pa Marsh. On a hot day it was always full of cold water. It is one of the few possessions of theirs that I have.
On the farm we got our water from corrugated rainwater tanks. We had two, one fed from the roof of the house and the other, just outside the garden fence, fed from the roof of a shed. If the one next to the house got low Dad pumped water from the reserve tank.
Nana and Pa also had two tanks. One however was an underground concrete tank and this kept the water beautifully cold in summer.
Today most of us get water from the town or city water supply. It has additives we never heard of as kids - fluoride and chloride - to protect our health if we believe the authorities. It is only of recent years that in places like Sydney citizens have been permitted to install rainwater tanks. However it is recommended we don't use the water from these for drinking of cooking. This may be detrimental to our health.
I wonder.
If it didn't rain for a few weeks - or more - the birds still sat on the roof and did as birds do. Who knows what creepy crawlies collected in the guttering that fed that tanks and sometimes died there. All this only added to the nutritional mix.
At times a pong would emanate from one of the tanks. 'Neville', Mum would call. 'I think there's a dead frog in the tank.' And, sure enough, there usually was, not that I understand how they got in as there was a cover that should have kept them out. Now sometimes we could afford to drain one of the tanks and clean it out. But at other times this was not so which meant lift out the frog and continue as normal.
We survived, without any ill effects. Sometimes I wonder if that added nutrients only strengthened our immune system and if we have not got too cautious with the passing of the years.
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