KEY FIXTURE: A typical day for locksmith Mr Tay Soon Ee starts with a 20-minute drive from his Seng Kang flat to Bedok Town Centre. And from 8am to 9pm everyday, he blends into the crowd, making the 3 by 1m space along the sheltered walkway his store. The 66-year-old self-taught locksmith has been duplicating keys in Bedok for 25 years. His humble store, in the form of a metal push cart adorned by a giant key sign, is an unmissable sight for anyone passing by the hawker centre en-route to Bedok MRT station. On the average, the father of four daughters earns $100 a day and that is enough for him to provide two of his daughters with a university education. An avid traveller, Mr Tay said that he travels overseas to places like Japan, Hong Kong or China once a year. As new malls will start sprouting out around him in 2014, he's not worried by any competition but by the prospect of key cutting being a dying trade. "Youngsters wouldn't want to do this. It's too tiring. They prefer the office as it's air-conditioned," he said with a wistful shake of his head. -- ST PHOTO: NEO XIAOBIN