It is a very good point that when I was growing up in the 40s and 50s homes and the environment were vastly different from today. We heated our homes with coal fires - often only one to heat the whole house - with open chimneys. Most floors were either bare, varnished wood or lino and if there was a carpet square or a rug it would, periodically, be hung over the washing line and beaten with a flat, wooden paddle to get the dust out. Washing days were steamy affairs with wet washing draped around the fire to dry on rainy days. If the steam became excessive, windows were opened and bedroom windows were often left open at night, whatever the weather. We walked to school and back and we, in the main, ate home-cooked meals with plenty of vegetables to make up for the small meat rations.
I only knew one boy who had asthma. Funnily enough, neither of his parents smoked though nearly every one else's parents did, including mine. My parents considered Blackburn Rd. very busy in those days but, compared to the traffic around now, it was like a country lane and, as Bernadette has pointed out, babies rode around in coach-built prams that were high off the ground - and above exhaust level.
It does give you food for thought.
