More susceptible these days

As I walk along the river bank the air is full of pollen, gad fly's flit across the surface of the water and the duck family paddles up stream.The rivers edge is covered in rich greenery, little nooks and crannies exist for those who live alongside the river bank providing some security from predators. One is always reminded of Wind in the Willows a beautiful humanisation of some of the river folk and how security was as crucial as the worry about the antics of Toad
The worry I have is the pollen, a hidden scourge if you suffer from hay fever as I do. 
I never had a problem when I was overseas perhaps a reflection on how rich the environment is over here in so far as the natural habitat is concerned with so many wild flowers in the hedge row. The antigens that fill the air are annoying causing a host of irritating side effects from excessive mucus to chronic air restriction at night with laboured breathing. It seems as if people are becoming more sensitive to the quality (or lack of) of the air and one wonders why since we have taken huge strides in cleaning the atmosphere generally.
Growing up we were often confronted with pea soup fogs so thick you couldn't see a hand in front of your face, smoking in pubs and on buses, coal fires in the home everywhere antigens galore and yet hay fever was a rarity. Now a days the chemists are full of anti-allergy concoctions for people to swallow and spray each morning along with brushing their teeth to keep the lurgy at bay. Has something happened to weaken our immune system,  perhaps vehicle pollution, mobile phone radiation, stress, who knows but we are different and more susceptible these days.

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