The sun was shining, but it was raining.
At 10 a.m., I was still getting ready for work.
I couldn't believe it was 9 a.m.!
I looked at my watch three times
I went to sleep early last night.
In the morning, I woke up, got up and opened the window.
to describe a scene
To describe past states
Repeated actions
Actions in progress in the past
things that happened one after the other
completed actions in the past