Chinese curses

A relative is living in interesting times, in the Chinese sense. Thursday the transmission in her car died; the repair is probably more expensive than the value of the car, but she can't afford a new car if it costs more than a transmission. Friday, a big storm damaged the roof on her patio (fortunately not the house proper); that'll be covered by insurance, but there was a lot of storm damage and it may be a while before the insurance company can pay attention to her. And then, either Friday or Saturday, her phone service died -- not the incoming service, the phone company said, but apparently something inside her house. That'll probably be the first thing to get fixed. (The house isn't that big; how much wire can there be to trace?)

I hope that adage about bad news coming in threes means only threes rather than a minimum of three; I think she's had quite enough excitement for a while.