unworkable connection

I have read all the posts about shaping etc but as a user who considers himself a low user on option 3 and not a game player , I am at a loss to know why web pages over this last weekend kept on timing out and were vertually unusable. When selecting any link from any home page the site would flag a failure. This site was a prime example!
Was this a short term problem over this weekend or some on-going long-term problem that I need to be concerned about.
I would like to hear some opinions on this matter.

This is not helpful yet but I have heard of other people complaining about similar occurrences over the weekend just past. I have had no trouble (East Midlands) but, then, I have been watching a lot of tennis! I'm sure one of the experts will have an answer or suggestion.

I also had avery poor weekends connections. Particulaly Sunday P.M. Random lower and lower resyncs. Slow speed. I am in North Somerset