CLICK to listen to the audio version of this Daily Paradox

You wouldn’t want to be a tortoise changing planes in Dhaka airport right now. Four hundred of them have been arrested. Details of their interrogation are being kept secret for fear many more will be alerted and take avoiding action. Tortoises want to travel and they are not prepared to be thwarted by a Bangladeshi – or any other – ban. You have to admire their courage.

It all began with an article in Tortoise Travel Today, a popular but limited circulation magazine. On its own it would never have caused such a stir. Combined with Tracebook and LinkedShell, not to mention a few remarks in Totter, the special fares available to tortoises soon spread from one place to another until every available suitcase was booked for months ahead.

International Immigration was appalled, of course. It has always been the custom for tortoises to travel in special cages, allowing light and air on a generous scale. Now CST (cheap suitcase travel) has arrived and made available journeys that were previously no more than a twinkle on the tortoise shell. Why, before we know it there will be space travel for the innocents.

In all of this the authorities have as their guiding light a soft landing. The tortoise’s natural mobile home is fine for most climates and conditions but extended airless and lightless travel is not recommended. Every attempt is being made to regulate the quality of suitcase travel before it is too late. As we have often said ’The bitterness of poor quality lasts long after the sweetness of low price’. Or, as one tortoise remarked, ‘This could reduce our life expectancy to little over 200 years if we are not careful’.

Predictably, there will be a great deal of discussion about how best to raise CST quality levels without incurring massive extra cost. The Daily Paradox has a modest suggestion to make. Drill holes in the sides of the suitcases so that some air and some light can reach the tortoises inside. No need to spend a lot of money – the manufacturers of DIY drills will sponsor the holes. The tortoises will survive and flourish.

We are never short of a good idea at Terrific Mentors.