Happy new find

The Garden Cinema, near Holborn, to watch Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. This place is London's hidden gem: just look at the bar, where the barman adjusted my Old Fashioned with soda without so much as a raised eyebrow.

Film: memerisingly well paced, with the best use of music (the Chieftains, Schubert, Handel's Sarabande). J & I both enthralled. The unsentimental narrator (Michael Hordern) is a masterstroke: his script propels the story forward, foreshadowing plot twists etc, so the audience feels suspense (how will this happen?) instead of surprise.

Visually? There's a book to be written about the hats alone. One cinema-goer dressed up in tribute: flowing white lace trimmed dress & broad brimmed straw hat. (She was in back row). This could catch on: do hope so.