X marks the memory

The Alphabet Challenge reached X this week - X is for X was all we were told. Looking around the house for an X I spotted this way in the back of the ornament cabinet.
Only a cheap little wooden windmill, but how the memories came flooding back. I can't remember exactly where I bought it but I remember the holiday. August 1957 - my first trip abroad - 10 days in Holland with the Ranger Guides. It cost £25 and my parents said I could only go if I saved the money myself. So I took a Saturday job in Woolworth's - got 11/9 after NI deducted from the 15/-,  saved 10/- a week for a year. I am sure we appreciated things more then when we had to work and save for it.
We visited lots of places - the ex fishing villages on the edge of the Zuider Zee - the Peace Palace in the Hague - Arnhem Bridge and the War Cemetery - Amsterdam - Rotterdam, being rebuilt after the devastation of the war - the model town of Madurodam. Our base was a country house owned by the Dutch Girl Guides and used as a holiday centre.
Such a lot of memories released by merely dusting off a cheap souvenir -  and the photo  album with its black and white prints - taken with my 8 on 120 Box Brownie!
PS. the little teeth marks on the sails are courtesy of an inquisitive puppy in 1977 - but that's another memory trail ....