Manly Peep Shows

As a kid I loved construction sites. They usually had a big wall around them made from shuttering to protect curious voyeurs such as myself, and the suits striding down the pavement. They usually had holes in them especially for us, with a bit of reinforcing mesh over them to stop a stray brick dropping an under secretary to something, or with a bit of luck a lawyer.
Inside was a big manly playpit, with cranes, loaders, dirty great compressors, hoses, jack hammers, welders, and mud. There was an air of casual bedlam, and slowly and steadily things were built.
I still happily can watch such a digger working for hours. Having had a go on them, I now know just how much of an art skilled operating is. I have seen some top guns casually pick up boulders and toss them to form a dam around a culvert pipe that would break if hit, others who could level an area to within 3mm as a laser level demanded. Bulldozers cutting tracks on slopes I would be too scared to walk up. Watching work is cool.
I am also one of those annoying buggers that will sidle up and ask questions. What does that do? Why does this happen?
Most are more than happy to talk about their jobs when they pick a genuine interest. A road marking machine is actually an amazing thing, full of computors and steering wheels, but how do they get the lines so straight? Do you get a practice? What was your first line like?? Do crash barriers really work? What makes spray-on grass seed stick and grow to a sheer rock face?
Actually, I'm surprised I have never been told to fuck off. Instead I have often been given a chance to "have a go". It's cool to drive past your work mates in a fire engine, or cut stone with a water jet. No wonder my favourite web site bar none is Google.