Ubi-quitous

Every Saturday, rain or shine, I would reject meetings, push away lunches and skip crazy nights out at Zouk just to see someone for an hour - my driving instructor, Mr Jonah.



Having just undergone an operation for piles, which he emphasized was prefectly normal for Singaporean men , he is a middle-aged men who is a little on the plump side. Forever chatty, I sometimes suspect he was a taxi driver before he became a driving instructor.

I assure you, once you step into his car, you almost feel as if you were coming to meet an old friend at a the Kopi Tiam, instead of coming to driving lessons; That is of course excluding the times when he pulls the handbrake because you nearly langa into somebody.Let's not forget the times when the car stalls in the middle of the road.

Don't see him uncle uncle, he know how to SMS ok. The night before their lessons, he will SMS his students to remind them of their time slot. Why so good, you ask?

You see, unlike some of my contemporaries, I am a pirvate student and Mr Jonah is a pirvate instructor based in Ubi. Being a school student once, I can safely say that compared to schools, pirvate lessons are cheaper, more flexible and less of a hassle.

Most of the time , He keeps his Saturday afternoons free for me. Try telling that to the school's computer system in which most of the time, you have to book 3 weeks in advance. But enough about the pros and cons of learning driving through school and pirvate.

I was walking towards the Eunos MRT station after driving lessons and the great thing about this particular station is there is an entire stretch of coffee shops and a hawker center just beside it. So there I was hoping I could fill my rumbling stomach when I spotted this weird car parked just outside the station.



Talk about advertising man.

The entire car was covered with orange stickers spelling out the rates for various driving lessons which include Auto and Mannual transmission. Judging from the looks of it, this car is also used for driving lessons.

If I was one of the students, I would pay the instructor just not be seen in the car.

Later..in Tampines

There is an orange board nailed to a tree. I look at it. It is the exact replicate of the stickers on the car.

I walk to a pedestrian crossing. Crossing it I see another orange board.It directs me to a website for more information.

Apparently the name of the school is STDS.