When things of a technical nature go wrong, I always assume it's some fault of mine. But even I was reluctant to accept responsibility for the refusal of my laptop to behave in a wireless manner, unless I was so intimately cuddled up to the router we were practically engaged.

Generally, broadband help desks - oh, the temptation to reach for those inverted commas - can safely fob me off with bamboozlement, blame or telephonic banishment to Bangalore. But at this rate the guarantee on my new laptop was going to expire before I ever got it to work properly. All I had to show for the days - and I mean days - of my wasted time was the accusation that I had probably installed the router in a room with walls.