Some people love New York. And then there are other people, like my mother, who enjoyed visiting, but couldn’t help asking, as we strolled through midtown — “is it always this dirty”? I’ll admit that New York streets are often home to garbage bags, or the occasional windblown trash, although I’ve almost stopped noticing it. But New York has nothing on London in the 19th century, which was perhaps the filthiest city of all time.
