There is continual building work going on next door, with periods of continuous drilling. Genuinely. It makes it difficult to sleep when I'm doing night shifts.
As for usage, continuous describes a period of time without any interruption. Continual, however, describes a prolonged time period with breaks.
For example:
The mobile phone rang continuously. (No break)
The mobile phone rang continually throughout the day. (It rang often, but with breaks between - i.e. there were periods when it wasn't ringing)
He worked continuously on the project for the entire day. (He took no breaks)
He worked continually on the project over several months. (Presumably he paused occasionally to eat, drink, and sleep)
An easy way to remember: continuAL has an intervAL.
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