Mistakes

Until yesterday I had never heard of the Italian village of Marino and I have no idea whether or not it is an attractive place. There is, however, certainly one attraction: during the village's annual Sagra dell Uva festival, the marble fountain in the village square flows with chilled sparkling white wine.

Until this year.

The mayor and other dignitaries waited by the fountain, plastic cups at the ready. But when the switch was thrown, what flowed from the fountain was plain water.

Meanwhile, a housewife appeared on her balcony announcing a miracle. Wine was flowing from her kitchen tap.

Plumbers had connected pipes from the local vineyard to the domestic water supply instead of the fountain.

Canterbury cathedral is the scene of another, more permanent mistake.

Behind the high altar are two rows of columns, four to a row. The columns are square in cross section and the first pair are ornately carved, the second pair plain, the third pair carved, and one of the fourth pair is plain. The other has been carved on one complete side and part of another.

Imagine the stonemason's reaction when, after carefully chipping away at the column for a week or two, he realised it was meant to be uncarved!