JQuery :: Show "loading" Image When Clicking A Link

There's an outgoing link on my website that is sometimes slow to respond. I want to show a spinning wheel image after clicking it. Here is how I do it:

$("#thelink").click(function() {
$("#somediv").addClass('loading');
});

There are 2 problems: Firefox doesn't remove the "loading" class when going to another page and clicking the browser's Back button. Google Chromedoesn't add the class "loading". Instead itimmediately opens the pagetargetedby the link.I solved this by adding a "delay()". Is this the best approach?

$("#thelink").click(function() {
$("#somediv").addClass('loading').delay();
});