etch mirror down?

[kern]

an hour ago I was happily apt'ing stuff from ftp.uk.debian.org in my /etc/apt/sources.list

now its complaining I can't apt, I havent changed my repositories since the install? my other box wont apt from the same mirror too, is it possible to assume the mirror might be down? sounds stupid, but you never know.

I've tried adding other repositories for etch, on another box, but I can't get any to work, it always says:

Failed to fetch http://ftp.uk.debian.org/debian/dists/etch/Release.gpg  Could not connect to ftp.uk.debian.org:80 (83.142.228.128). - connect (61 Connection refused)

I havent changed the mirror since the install, so I can only assume the mirror is down, or the sparc side maybe, I dunno.

please excuse me, I'm a slackware user and while debian is nice, I'm having trouble with the apt repositories a little.

if someone can suggest what to put in for another UK etch-sparc mirror, I'd be happy, although I've tried a few and for some reason I can't apt-get update properly without it complaining it can't access the mirror etc.

my internet connectivity is fine. so .

help an apt-newb out!

[kern]

ah, I am using ftp.ie.debian.org and it seems to be fine.

odd that a primary mirror would just go boom though


thanks anyone who looked