Allergies, A Cold or H1N1?

Achoo! Achoo! And one more time; achoo! Is it spring allergies, a cold, or the flu? I'm one of those people who never had allergies until I was older. Until I started having them I always thought if you were allergic it showed up in childhood.
My first problem was a skin allergy. It took years and many tests to finally find something to clear that up. (Crotty's Special Cream from Dr. A) Then in the spring of the year I began having watery, itchy eyes. I mean BAD watery itchy eyes. I was already taking generic claritin when almost at the end of allergy season two years ago I switched to generic zyrtec. Within two or three days my eyes cleared up. But I didn't know if it was because of the zyrtec or because of the end of allergy season.
Last year I had no problem with my eyes and so far this year, no problem. Is it the zyrtec? Or because I moved off the farm? I have to wonder if I was allergic to pollen from the cedar trees? Because that is the only tree we had there that we don't have here. I guess I could quit taking the zyrtec and then I would know.
I remember when Grandma Ridnour always had her spring cold. Now I wonder if it wasn't allergies instead of a cold.
I have heard that one of the reasons the H1N1 flu wasn't as bad as predicted this winter was because of all our snow and cold - people stayed home, schools were closed because of the snow and ice - the flu didn't spread.
We did have flu shots for the seasonal flu and then later for H1N1. Somewhere I heard that we old folks weren't getting the flu as bad as younger people because of a virulent flu that went around in 1959. So many people had it then and developed an immunity to a similar current flu. Whatever the reason - flu shots or old immunities - I haven't had the flu for many years. Nor do I get many colds anymore. (Just watch, I'll probably come down with one or the other!)
The H1N1 was expected to become a pandemic. It was feared it could be as bad as the "Spanish Flu" which killed more than 50 million people world-wide in 1918. Two stories I remember hearing about that flu: 1) My Uncle Bus (Leslie Duncan) was at Camp Dodge in Johnston north of Des Moines training for WWI duty overseas when the flu struck there. More than 10,000 of the soldiers stationed there became ill with more than 700 deaths. I remember that the Armistice was signed before Uncle Bus had to go overseas; I don't remember if he had the flu.
One of his sister's figures in my other flu story. When I first moved back to SW Iowa in '78, I drove the senior citizens bus for Area 14 Agency on Aging. One day I picked up a client to take him out to the medical clinic. Upon hearing who I was, he said, "I knew your grandmother. I could tell you a story about her: she was engaged to be married and the man died in the flu epidemic. Later she married your grandfather." Now that was a story I had never heard! I wondered who her first fiance had been. I asked Mom, but she had never heard that. Grandma Lynam was still alive then, but I did not feel that I could ask her.
Then I started figuring out the dates. Grandpa George & Grandma Bessie were married in 1914. The flu epidemic was in 1918. I finally decided the guy had my grandma mixed up with her younger sister. That made more sense.
I'm pretty sure today's sneezes were due to allergies. At least I don't have the watery, itchy eyes. Yet.

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza.
I opened the window,
And in-flu-enza.
(A child's rope skipping rhyme from 1918)