Take the case of Peter Goossens, a Michelangelo of gastronomic art, who has been suffering in recent months from burn-out. In January, Goossens was involved in an accident in which his car collided with a van, a wooden post and a potted plant. Later it emerged he had dipped his ladle in the coq au vin one too many times, and a court in Oudenaarde gave him a €1,200 fine and a month’s driving ban.

Another cultural giant who suffered a setback is Kanye West, one of the world’s foremost rappers. He performed at the Sportpaleis in Antwerp last week, and after his show decamped with his entourage to a local brasserie. A restaurant employee explained that the star was an hour late for his reservation and the kitchen was closed – even to musical icons.

But possibly an even bigger slap in the fact came when police in Ghent wrote a parking ticket for an installation that forms part of the Sint-Jan exhibition in the city’s Sint-Baaf ’s cathedral. The exhibition is dedicated to Jan Hoet, founder of Ghent’s museum of modern art and one of Flanders’ most legendary curators.

The installation in question is by French artist Ange Leccia and consists of two Mini Coopers parked nose to nose (pictured). According to police, not only is that sort of parking illegal, the cars were in a pedestrian-only area. Rather outraged, the organisers of the exhibition moved the cars to a side street. Unfortunately, a  parking ban is also in operation there.