On a day when the snow is piled high and the temperature is well below zero, the last thing many want to do is get out of bed at the crack of dawn and go door to door.
But that's what Angela and Darren Payne of Sydney Mines, N.S., have done daily for the last 28 years.
The brother-and-sister duo started delivering newspapers for the Cape Breton Post in 1994.
"She asked me one day, 'Would you like to do papers?' And I said 'Yeah, no problem.' Twenty-eight years later,” Darren said with a laugh.
The print industry has changed drastically since then, but their job has stayed the same.
They’ve walked their route, each day, no matter the weather.
"I would be soaked -- soaked right to the skin, soaked right down to my shorts some days,” Darren said.
Now that Darren is 58 years old and Angela is 53, they've decided to call it a career.
For Angela, a big part of the decision came when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last March.
"Four rounds of chemotherapy, 15 rounds of radiation, I beat it in July. So now I'm cancer-free,” Angela said, fighting back tears.
Darren says he decided to retire after a bad fall on black ice last year.
“I didn't bust them or anything, but I bruised my ribs,” he said.
Twenty-eight years of doing the job comes with the odd tumble -- and many stories.
The one Darren Payne remembers most is when he found nearly $1,000 on the ground and returned it to its owner.
He received a plaque from the police as a reward, and a big Christmas bonus each year from the man who got his money back.
Now that their delivery days are over, the Paynes’ plans are to relax and spend time with family.
"It was fun,” Angela said.
They say they’ll miss the customers most. But both brother and sister promise they won't be strangers.
"The customers were the best," Darren said.
