bad things come in 3s

I've always heard this, and I don't know if it's actually true. Maybe it's just that once two bad things happen you sit around waiting for the third to fall from the sky. Inevitably something sufficiently bad occurs and once again the proverb is proven true.

So when my computer started overheating (complete with tiny alarm and sudden shutdown) and I took it into the computer repair place only to be told that it might cost me $300 or so to fix, I really should have gone to my car not expecting it to start. At the very least a sense of impending doom (bad things coming as they do...in threes) would have been appropriate. Of course I, having no afore-mentioned sense of doom, was shocked and dismayed to realise that turning the key was resulting in absolutely nothing happening.

Starter motor. Another $300. *sigh*

Now of course I was wise. Impending doom was written all over my face until the auto electrician (who, bear in mind, does not even sell tyres and therefore had no reason to talk me into replacing my tyres) provided my third 'bad thing' by mentioning that my front two tyres were worn to a dangerous (and illegal) level. Two tyres and a very necessary wheel alignment later, $200 more dollars had joined their friends down the drain.

Of course now I feel invincible. What can possibly go wrong? Bad things do not, after all, 'come in 4s'.