Goodwill Hunting and The Wonderful Helen

Helen, Eric and the ever fragrant Alice's chauffeuress for their Goodwill Hunting leg of their adventure has proved an absolute dream, Eric and Alice both adore her already.

Not only has she managed to sort a non stop itinerary of ten Goodwills for each day they "have" her services (two days in total, from 9.00am to 5.00pm) .........

 ...... she has also made sure there is a most ample supply of nutritious snacks and drinks on the back seat for them, accommodated for the odd bathroom break and plucked time, seemingly from the air, for pitstops introducing them to fast food establishments they had, until now, never even thought of availing themselves of ......

..... not to mention becoming their font of all knowledge of every day American life, answering all those little questions that they might usually have been afraid to ask for fear of looking ignorant or just plain silly .......

...... for example, all the little flags on the grass they were curious about are not left over from various local celebrations, but are in fact markers to indicate where various underground utilities are, well I never!

Anyway, Helen, even after collecting them from the airport and one day of Goodwill Hunting is a definite keeper, it's been, according to the little fella, quite emotional!

I digress, how was their first day of actual Goodwill Hunting, was it worth two years of building anticipation and planning?

A thousand fold yes, according to Eric, perhaps the ones they have visited so far haven't been on the humungous scale of some they've seen on YouTube, but none have disappointed in any way, shape or form .......

....... he's already managed to find a rich seam of vintage Christmas stockings to replace all our run of the mile, mundane B & M Bargains ones at the behest of Darrell.

I believe a small festive or otherwise trinket has been duly purchased from almost all the Goodwills they have visited so far .......

........ but what Eric and Alice hadn't quite anticipated was the continuance of Eric's "haunting" by hedgehog, especially in the land of the free and Uncle Sam!

However, when faced with some particularly beautiful examples .........

..... it would have been rude to reject them and not avail oneself of at least one such souvenir of their adventure .......

........ finally accepting, it seems, that whatever country Eric finds himself in .........

....... said creatures just cant help being inextricably drawn to the little fella, perhaps one day we might find out why!