cables, modems and other crises

I am writing this, in haste, in the pub.

No, I'm not having a beer but a double espresso - I ran out of coffee at home yesterday and was gasping for strong, delicious caffeine. But the real lure of the pub was the promise of free wi-fi.

My broadband internet connection is down at home. After several lengthy and irritable (on both sides) conversations with the Virgin Media call centre, they agreed to send out a technician without, as they threatened, charging me £75. I think the problem is with broadband because the "ready" light frequently flickers and goes out. This will be the second technician in a week despatched to help us.

Sometimes the call centre admits there is a signal problem. sometimes not. They suggest the problem is with the router but, even when I take the router out, the best connection I can get is a home page that takes five minutes to load. And then the connection dies.

At work, my computer decided to freeze half-way through the opening procedure. After a morning of anxiety, a technician tried a new cable, and it worked again. But I don't know if it will continue to work and nor does he. Meanwhile my trusty laptop (also the property of work) is waiting for someone to authorise repairs. I'm not allowed to do so. The technicians claim the problem could have been caused by dropping the laptop. I didn't drop it. It's suffering from overwork, perhaps. Some of the letters on the keyboard have worn away.

I don't know how many hours I've spent on internet and computer problems. They have stopped me blogging. I hope I'll be back soon.