The Bitch Pack

The term bitch pack has its roots in the English Shires and foxhunting.

Bitch hounds are said to be quicker, sharper and have keener scenting skills than the dog hounds. The bitches were used for hunting over the best grass country, mid-week, when only the more exclusive hunt members would be out.

Today the term is used to describe an urban gang of girls, usually lead by the alpha bitch.

My bitch pack fits neither description.
My bitch pack is a group of women of a certain age who prop each other up, provide moral support, rejoice in each other's good news, share bad news and have a constant supply of wine and tissues to hand.
We are a diverse group, but there is a strong bond that only time and adversity can build.
The hard core are the 4 of us singles, then, there are two who pretend to be single, but actually have someone in the background, and finally a few married hangers on.

At times when things are going well, we may not see an individual for a while, but when things go tits up, we're there for them. Sometimes a text message is enough, at other times it's the full blown blue light run.

To save on texts and phone calls, I always contact one specific person, safe in the knowledge the rest of the pack will know within a very short period of time... Trouble is with me being so naive, I always forget and tell her things that I don't want the world to know.

"Doing anything special this weekend?" She asked innocently on Thursday
"I'm going out on Friday evening"
"Oh! Where are you going?"
"Not quite sure, it's a date." (Damn Damn Damn.)
"Oh!....... what are you going to wear?"
"A big smile!" I'm not a great one for planning clothes more than 5 minutes in advance.

So as you can imagine, this morning my phone was red hot.
Unlike the date, last night.

The restaurant, ("We must go here the food is super, I'm a bit of an epicure, you know") was cold and almost empty.
It took him about 15 minutes do decide what small red wine I should have.

Then he leaned towards me across the table...... I held my breath, my heart fluttered... and he said.

"Oh! And by the way I might slip the occasional joke into the conversation..."

"Excellent. Brilliant! I hope I notice"

"Oh! Ha ha ha! Hilarious " I said at one point.
"No, that wasn't a joke he said.
"Really?"

Oh but maybe you....

The photo?
The local Beagle pack were doing a spot of trail hunting on a neighbouring farm this morning.