Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Bayside welcomes mum, daughter


CLEVELAND on beautiful Moreton Bay (picture from more2redlands.com.au) triumphed over some choice mediterranean addresses after Aussie ex-pat Beverly Dowell looked for a change from her longterm UK base.
"I looked at a map, thought that would be nice and here we are," she said.
A compelling family reason, however, was the ultimate decider of Beverly's new home.
"My mum went into a nursing home and I came here to live with her and look after her," Beverly said.
"I am fortunate to be able to do it and we rub along well together.
"She's much happier now."
Her mum, Charlotte Torvell, is Queensland born but, like Beverly, is new to the Redlands.
Beverly grew up in Sydney. In 1972 she headed for the United States where she lived for six years before crossing the Atlantic.
The United Kingdom was her base for 27 years and she developed a deep love of European culture and antiques.
Meanwhile, most of her family were "drifting up to Queensland".
Beverly enjoyed time in Italy and France, but her antique focus stayed British to the core.
She studied English antiques from the 16th to 20th centuries at Cambridge University.
"Down under" for the past year, she undoubtedly misses the connection with such a long heritage.
However, she is pleased to have found a pleasant area near the ocean, a major criterion during her map gazing.
Has she had any disappointments with Cleveland?
"None. It's nice to be back in the sunshine and I can see my nephews and neices growing up and I did miss that."
Beverly, however, has become a television "culture vulture" who enjoys watching the news in other languages.
She can even list the daily foreign bulletins in order - Italian, German, Spanish and French - and she surprises herself by understanding "little bits".
"There is such a great mixture in Europe," she said.
"I miss a lot of it."
In the UK last year, Beverly bought a complete Italian language course to prepare for a possible shift to Italy.
She decided a few weeks ago to advertise the Linguaphone course for sale at $125, citing the new value at $300.
"It has everything you need – tapes, videos and text books – and has never been used," she said.
"I thought that I should allow someone to get some use of it."
(This column has appeared in the Redland Times, Queensland, Australia).

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