St. James’ Park
An Alternative Campsite and Hostel in Bulgaria
Animals
Animals have been a major part of our life in Voditsa but they mostly haven’t been farm animals - actually they’ve been mostly cats! At the moment (January 2013) we have 9 cats, a dog and a chicken whose name is The Survivor and she is currentlt on holiday at Dancho’s house.
The current cats are Indie and Shearer who came from England - they have adapted and they love it here; Orion (my favourite), Cassiopia, Polaris, and Runty - they just appeared one day and were so close to getting strimmed before they were discovered that it’s horrible to think about - and there is Rastaglifska (Bulgarian for small and flexible female) and Seven who is Cassie’s kitten and as the ninth cat, had to be called Seven. There’s also Buddy who is the last one left from my previous kitten invasion 3 years ago - one day I had no animals then suddenly I had 5 cats and a dog. They were all named Elvis, Jimi, Janice, Kurt, Buddy and Freddie.
Our dog at the moment is called Dusty. She is very lovely…..when she knows you! If she doesn’t know you, her object in life will be to kill you. She is very scary but that is her job and people who come to stay are astounded when she accepts them into her club after about 24 hours and then she is a soppy little pup.
We had a chicken saga over a couple of years but in 2013 I’m going to get a load of chickens and look after them properly and have loads of eggs. We had a couple of very weird ducks the other year - Ike and Tina who both turned out to be male. Very annoying creatures but they did do a great act in syncronised head movements.
The only other animal addition I’m thinking about is a hive of bees.
A message from 2009/
I’m writing this in January 2009 and in the last few months, I’ve lost 4 of my lovely animals. Jess passed away peacefully in her sleep after 16 eventful years. She was a great companion and she used to be a whippet. Little Jackie sadly disappeared last October and then her brother and best friend Wor Geordie also disappeared earlier this month. They were both lethal hunters and they kept my lawn full of half eaten dead things. Sadest of all, Tino died last week - i think maybe someone mistook him for a fox and he was shot. They were all great animals and everyone who has been here will have some memory of them - they did help to make the place. There will be more of course - poor Ziggy is lonely and right now I dont have anyone to bark and keep the jackals and wild pigs out. and also Ziggy is a bit of a spoilt child and although he is very cute, he is quite rubbish at killing mice.
There was Alan as well of course so its not just about cats and dogs and maybe next year I’ll get chickens or I could learn to like geese.
I have loads of animals photos to sort through, so it’ll take me ages to get this page together so you’ll have to come back periodically and see whats new. If you have any pictures of the animals that you would like to put on this page, please send them to me at comeandliveinvoitsa@gmail.com or if you want write a bit about your memory, I’ll put it on the page.
Little Jackie really liked shoes and bags.
Recently Jess didn’t have the energy to snarl at the cats or maybe she ended liking these two. For those who dont know Jess’ background, she used to live with 4 very nasty cats who bullied her and who used to work in teams against her. ‘Death to all cats’ was her motto but she finally just chilled out.
