And now I have been living in Switzerland for the past almost 60 years but here we have a clean mist. Of course it is still dense, but there is something fresh about it. There is no smog, just thick intransparent mist, but your lungs survive. It usually arrives during Autumn and arrises from the local rivers. By Winter it disappears, but we then have the clear freezing air. We would probably miss it all, if we were living at the equator in the hotter parts of the world without Autumn or Winter.
RDP Wednesday: Foggy
Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss 
I remember smog. Mum used to make us cover our noses and mouths with hankies when we went out. Nasty stuff.
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We had masks, but we kids never bothered so much and as you said it was sll improvised, not like today.
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I lived through the smog in London too. Many bouts of bronchitis.
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Same here, but we knew no different.
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