A classroom of primary school students in Luxembourg City enjoyed a glimpse into the distant past last Thursday when a local senior gave a presentation about what life was like before the neighborhood became consumed by roadworks.

Gilles Werner, who teaches cycle 4.1, says that the presentation about life before the roadworks was part of a unit that covered ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages.

"A lot of these kids only know blocked roads, repetitive digging and filling, and construction workers who spend years on their street and become more familiar to them than their own parents," she said.  "They don't know what it was like in the ancient times when you could easily go from point A to point B."

Eighty-two-year-old Leo Fisch, who gave the presentation, says that he is happy to do his part to educate children about the old days.

"I grew up in that big yellow house right down the street, and if you can believe it, I also went to this school," he told the group of mostly 11-year-olds. "When I was a kid, we could walk the entire seven blocks to school without even once having to cross the street or take another path because the sidewalk was all torn up."

"I never heard my parents curse and use bad language when we'd take the car because in those times, leaving the neighborhood was a very simple activity," he continued. "We'd get in the car and take the shortest path and not have to wonder which street might be blocked today."

"My friends and I could even ride our bicycles down the street without our parents having to worry and warn us a hundred times to avoid the excavator, rock breakers, and dump trucks," he added to loud gasps.

Despite the fact that Fisch also showed photographs and that his stories are backed up by historical documentation, not all the students believed what they say are "legends of cavemen times."

"He was nice and all, but I think he was just making stuff up," said Nathan Ferrier, aged 11.

"Roadworks in our neighborhood are eternal, like Father Christmas and elves," said Naomi Magnusdottir, aged 10.

"It's not nice to lie to children," said Sean Clarke, aged 12. "When my dad finds out that someone tried to make us believe wild fantasies, he'll be very angry."

To thank the visitor, Mrs. Werner and the students presented him with an orange traffic cone which he mistook for a doughnut, according to one student.

Read more at wurst.lu