I don't use any other machines really... it's entirely possible it's some software-end oddity or internet service provision issue on some level, but I'm sure it's not the connection speed and there's nothing singularly odd about my setup, so I imagine it could be something that affects a certain minority of users perhaps.
Hm - on further research, apparently the i.imgur.com domain reacts badly to some otherwise normally set up firewalls and DNS settings and suchlike. This is annoying, as all that sort of stuff in this house is under my Pa's thumb and he's too busy to get round to making tweaks like that if I want them.
SW: Yes, I can see all your pics, it's FK's that I'm having issues with!