self propelled kids! aces!

It’s amusing how the story of our family can almost be told through three simple acronyms, as far as our vehicular registrations go. 

When D&I were growing up, life was simple and getting around meant taking SBS — Singapore Bus Services. Buses weren’t just transport; they were part of everyday life, carrying us to school, work, and everywhere in between.

Then came J and M. For this generation, the transport system evolved into SDS — the Singapore D Service. Mum became the chauffeur, happily making countless morning runs, afternoon pick-ups, weekend activities, and late-night collections. Every journey was another conversation, another laugh, another memory made together.

Now they’ve both grown up and are living your own independent lives. The family transport system has entered its latest chapter: SPK. The progress speaks for itself: self-powered kids who have become adults, making their own journeys, charting their own destinations, and building lives of their own.

Looking back, it’s remarkable how those three acronyms capture the passage of time—from being passengers on public buses, to being passengers in our family car, to becoming drivers of your own futures. And while the mode of transport has changed with each generation, one thing never has: wherever life takes us, we’re always travelling the same journey as a family.

PS: the first two cars were our daily drivers in Malaysia and it was in the Proton Wira that D first learnt to drive. We then began to love bigger SUVs beginning with the reconditioned Honda CRV that sported a nice (lucky) 7318 number. We then moved to Singapore with the Opel Zafira, an MPV to accommodate our full sized nuclear family then and thereafter went back to SUVs, first a rebadged Harrier to the RX300, then a proper Lexus 400h. We then went properly into the grandmaster of the 4×4 offroad vehicle, the Land Rover. First the Discovery (which many contractors admired), then the Ocean 11 Range Rover Sport (in Santorini Black, what else!). All these SUVs bore the same SDS number. And to mark our new era of self-propelled kids, we now have a Land Rover Defender in pangea green (of course) which is a plug in hybrid EV to boot with the SPK acronyms.