There is one stand I always head for when I enter the London Book Fair, even before I’ve registered. It’s to see the ever-smiling, friendly face, of Steve ‘Mr Pineapple’ Mathieu. This year, though, was an exception.
I met Mr P among the bustling crowds trying to exit Kensington Olympia Station – you can’t miss a bright yellow, bouncing pineapple, even in a crowd. This year there was to be no stand, festooned with pineapple decorations, as the ever increasing exhibitor costs has proved too much, but he was still on a mission.
However, our meeting was fortuitous, because Mr Pineapple had brought me a gift. It was a copy of his book Cultivate Your Seed for Greatness. Now I’d read this a couple of years back, but this is a completely revised edition building on his message to: ’embrace the role that’s been given to you in life and make it fruitfully bloom’.
This new edition is almost three times as long with more in-depth discussion and advice coupled with more illustrations. I confess to not having read this yet, but it’s a task I’m looking forward to. My picture shows my last view of Mr Pineapple as he heads into the fair to spread his message: ‘Don’t wait for life to change you, because life is the one waiting for you to change. Let the fruit speak.’
Bon Voyage Mr P.
deilibri 