Switching on the TV, I was greeted by a story concerning Death Valley in California, which last week recorded the highest-ever temperature on Earth, 54.4ºC. Death Valley is in the north of the Mojave Desert and gets its name from the 1849 California gold rush when many pioneers perished on the wagon trains in the uninviting valley as they hunted gold. Considering that as a kid I once suffered heatstroke on the beach at Bournemouth, it is unlikely I'll be making any excursions to Death Valley. The acting is wooden, but the fearsome Death Valley landscape is worth a look. One London newspaper carried a front page of a snowbound town in southern Michigan which happened to be called Hell.

Source: Bangkok Post August 22, 2020 23:37 UTC