In the moment

What is happening out there? They are laying sheets of plywood across the tennis court. It looks like they are making some sort of road. Oh! A crane is driving in! It is driving along the wooden road. Thank goodness no-one is playing tennis any more. The man in the pink shirt is leaning on a tennis net post and drinking a mug of tea. I am waiting for him to have another sip because I think it would be a better photograph. I think he is supervising the work. Except not much is going on right now.
 
Some more men are getting out of the red Portakabin van. They are carrying tools and ladders. Oh, look over there! A huge lorry is driving in very slowly. Now it is stopping near the crane. The bit of the crane I do not know the vocabulary for is getting longer and turning round. Now it is picking up a Portakabin from the from the lorry. The Portakabin is swinging in the air. The crane driver is moving it very carefully. He is placing it on the ground – oh look again! The lorry is leaving and another lorry is arriving with another Portakabin. The crane is swinging round again and that man with the spanner is climbing a ladder. I think his workmate is hiding. Probably with Janet and John…
 
If the action was really as fast as this, and if my students needed this sort of vocabulary, I could have taught all my lessons in the present continuous today just by looking out of the window, commenting and asking questions. I’d have quite enjoyed that but the students would probably have thought I was mad.
 
Oh, I'm focussing on my teaching too much to see everything going on: they are putting a fifth Portakabin on the tennis court. Ah, now they are starting to pack up. The missing vocabulary bit of the crane is retracting, the men are putting their tools in the red van and my students are leaving. Now they are starting the engine and driving off and the crane is following them while I am moving the tables and chairs ready for tomorrow.
 
Tomorrow is the future.