"Going through primary school in the back of our 1999 Renault Twingo meant that I missed out on things like sports and swimming. To make up for it, my mother would let me switch seats once or twice a week", says the cross-border worker whose life has always been lived on the road...quite literally.

A man who lives in France but works in Luxembourg has spent his entire life in a single very long commute.

Thierry Poulet was born 24 years ago, soon after his pregnant mother, a billing officer, left her home in rural Lorraine to drive to work in Luxembourg City’s Kirchberg district.

“Based on what my mother told me in hundreds of bedtime stories during the early years of our endless commute, the traffic on the A31 was terrible that morning,” Poulet says.

By the time Poulet and his mother reached Metz, he was five years old. His mother initiated his schooling by playing educational audiotapes that were delivered by a postman who walked up alongside the slow-moving car.

“Going through primary school in the back of our 1999 Renault Twingo meant that I missed out on things like sports and swimming,” he said. “To make up for it, my mother would let me switch seats once or twice a week.”

“During the summer vacation, she would let me crawl into the boot for a few days and pretend I was in Australia.
Poulet says that while his ability to foster relationships suffered, he did have a girlfriend in secondary school.

“Her father worked in Luxembourg as well, and she had also spent all of her life in one long commute,” he says. “If I was lucky, their red Seat Ibiza would get stuck in traffic next to our car. Claire and I would roll down our windows and talk or blow kisses to each other.”

The relationship ended near Thionville when the girl and her father exited toward Remich, where he worked in IT. Although Poulet was heartbroken, he says it was for the best.

“She was the jealous sort. She accused me of cheating one time when I stared for too long at a girl in a BMW that was stuck in front of us for three kilometers.”

Poulet’s sixteenth birthday coincided with finally crossing the border into Luxembourg. He started smoking, staying awake late in the back of the car, and listening to music his mother didn’t like.

“I was in a rebellious phase and dreamed of becoming a hip-hop star,” he explained.

By the time he and his mother passed Bettembourg, Poulet says that he had matured, given up smoking, and was thinking about his future.

“We were on our way to Luxembourg, so I figured it would be a good idea to study law,” he said.

Thanks to more audiotapes as well as faculty members from the University of Lorraine who would amble or even crawl near the car and give him lessons, in May Poulet graduated with a master’s degree in business law.

“I’ve already been hired by a firm in Kirchberg,” he said as he and his mother finally merged onto avenue John F. Kennedy, where she works. “I hope to have a good first day of work – and first day ever outside of my mother’s car – before we start the long drive back home.”

Read more at wurst.lu.