They come in threes.

Three is a lucky number.

"Good luck always comes in threes," they say. (Or is it the other way round?) Anyway, it would not be hard to think of three good things that happened this week, but a lot easier too think of three disasters. It was an expensive week too.

By May 1st, I had to have my car serviced, tested and taxed. That little lot cost about £500 and did not include the new tyre I bought in April. Then there was the TV to replace, and now Dan's bed. I'll catch you up.

Dan had his birthday on Tuesday and the day went incredibly well until he got over-excited and threw a magnet at his telly which suddenly went psychedelic on us. I went to Tescos to buy another one and got a good deal on a huge (39") TV with a warranty that covers broken screens! I soon had it unpacked and set up but could not get the remote to work, even with different batteries. Obviously I had a duff remote, so I programmed one of those all-purpose models, but it didn't work either.

My friend Steve is a mad scientist, so I checked with him and he told me that you can see if a remote is working by using your SLR camera. I turned down the lights and pointed the remote at my Nikon and sure enough, I could see the beam. But still the TV could not see the remote and so I figured that it had a faulty sensor. It all had to bundled back in it's box and exchanged for another one. Guess what? It works!

The next night, Dan was just going back to sleep for me at about 4 am when we both felt this gentle, slow, sinking feeling. It was not like that falling sensation you get as you nod off. 'Much more gentle and quite pleasant really, except for the accompanying sound of splintering wood. We spent what remained of the night on a mattress, on the floor beside the fractured skeleton of Dan's bed. It has taken several days to arrange but John Lewis has agreed to a complete refund.

The third disaster was on Friday when Dan went to college in Peterborough with two of his carers. We had an SOS call from them because Dan had "kicked off" in the toilet and the situation seemed irretrievable. In fact he calmed down quite quickly but both carers were shaken and both had injured arms. One of them has to have 2 weeks off for her shoulder to recover.

Which partially explains why we had no carers on Monday when Dan went for his birthday treat to the Harry Potter Studios in London. Thankfully, Nick and Gabby went with us and we had a wonderful evening. And we were have just negotiated two free tickets to go again because the carers did not come.

The Warner Brothers' studios in Leavesden are housed in huge hangars on an old aerodrome. They used to make Lancaster bombers there, but now they make space-ships, castles, jungles or anything the film industry requires. The amount of craftsmanship on show is breathtaking.

Dan has two favourite bits; the intricate locks on a security door from Gringott's Bank and the Hypogriff (a feathered horse with a fierce beak that you have to bow to.)
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