Imagine a child today waking up to find frost on the windows,
on the inside, and stepping out of bed on to ice-cold lino. Washing in tepid water because there's no hot water left. Going downstairs to find the coal fire, the only source of heating in the house, is just being lit and what bit of warmth it's got is going straight up the chimney. Walking to school no matter how cold, wet, windy or snowy it is, or how far it is.
Imagine that
extremely rare child (though nearly every grown-up smokes), the one with asthma, whose "treatment" is being sent to stand next to the tar boiler, when the roads are mended, to inhale the vapours. Imagine being sent to play with your friend who has mumps so that you will catch it while you're young and "get it over with".
Imagine no telly, no computer, no CD player (no CDs), no ipod, no mobile phone. How
did we survive?
