At 68, he feels happy and contended with life
Takes time-off to read newspaper when there are no customers in sight.JPG)
Preparing for the day's work
Mr. Chong focuses on his mending jobA cobbler in My neighborhood.
Don't Rush Out And Buy A New Pair Of Shoes. Few stitches in times go extra miles.
Shoe repairers have an amazing way in transforming your shoes half or that which are sure to be scrapped at the moment you felt not wanted and worn out. As the inflation is souring to a new record high – more than 7%, why waste and depart some good savings money to just buy new shoes, when they can be repaired and reused, good as new.
I chanced to seek a casual talk with my neighborhood shoe repairer at walkway of a supermarket at Taman Sri Putri, Kulai. It was just a short walking distance from my home.
Mr. Chong Kim Shiu, 68 years old spinster had been a cobbler for the past 16 years after quitting various odds jobs in factories in Singapore. He is a familiar face in Kulai. He joined this rather small workforce as a self-employed shoe repairer since then.
Baring his tanned bare body, diligently mending shoes given to him by customers, his simple way and quite nature just gives me a sense of apology, of how many of us took cobblers for granted. Now as the economy is tight, many are turning to them to repair their shoes rather than replace with a new one.
I observed, men and women dropping off their shoes to him and he looked carefully and explained extend of damage and the cost of repair. Mostly he quotes on spot the chargers. I asked him what his income is in a day. He replied, ` cukup makan satu hari lor’. - Enough for a day expense. I deduced his earning should be about RM$30 – RM$50 a day.
Typical fixing works are changing, cutting, graving, stitching, and gluing soles. He learned this trade when he was working in a shoe factory in Singapore. No other formal training is needed. A simple cobbler job and a small capital, in the range of RM$2000, he set his sight to earn a decent living whilst his body could manage.
He concentrates only on repairing, restoration of shoes, boots, slippers and sandals as the main focus but not on making new footwear’s. This is only restriction as a limited itinerant worker.
While many of us felt gloom with the economic downturn that forced us to be more prudent in our daily savings, so getting our footwear to go more extra miles indeed one way of being smart person. Therefore don’t rush just to buy a new pair of shoes but just go to your friendly cobbler in your neighborhood and get them stitched up for those extra miles.
Don't Rush Out And Buy A New Pair Of Shoes. Few stitches in times go extra miles.
Shoe repairers have an amazing way in transforming your shoes half or that which are sure to be scrapped at the moment you felt not wanted and worn out. As the inflation is souring to a new record high – more than 7%, why waste and depart some good savings money to just buy new shoes, when they can be repaired and reused, good as new.
I chanced to seek a casual talk with my neighborhood shoe repairer at walkway of a supermarket at Taman Sri Putri, Kulai. It was just a short walking distance from my home.
Mr. Chong Kim Shiu, 68 years old spinster had been a cobbler for the past 16 years after quitting various odds jobs in factories in Singapore. He is a familiar face in Kulai. He joined this rather small workforce as a self-employed shoe repairer since then.
Baring his tanned bare body, diligently mending shoes given to him by customers, his simple way and quite nature just gives me a sense of apology, of how many of us took cobblers for granted. Now as the economy is tight, many are turning to them to repair their shoes rather than replace with a new one.
I observed, men and women dropping off their shoes to him and he looked carefully and explained extend of damage and the cost of repair. Mostly he quotes on spot the chargers. I asked him what his income is in a day. He replied, ` cukup makan satu hari lor’. - Enough for a day expense. I deduced his earning should be about RM$30 – RM$50 a day.
Typical fixing works are changing, cutting, graving, stitching, and gluing soles. He learned this trade when he was working in a shoe factory in Singapore. No other formal training is needed. A simple cobbler job and a small capital, in the range of RM$2000, he set his sight to earn a decent living whilst his body could manage.
He concentrates only on repairing, restoration of shoes, boots, slippers and sandals as the main focus but not on making new footwear’s. This is only restriction as a limited itinerant worker.
While many of us felt gloom with the economic downturn that forced us to be more prudent in our daily savings, so getting our footwear to go more extra miles indeed one way of being smart person. Therefore don’t rush just to buy a new pair of shoes but just go to your friendly cobbler in your neighborhood and get them stitched up for those extra miles.
