On Saturday evening I gathered some friends and made the decision to go and see the new Star Trek film at the IMAX in Manchester.

Sounds like a good idea right? I thought so. We’d meet up, grab something to eat, see the film and go for a few beers in the city centre. It almost went to plan …

Three of us met up at the Fab Café, the cult tv and movie themed bar on Portland Street. That was good. A couple of jars each and we were ready to head off. Nipped into Subway across the road for some food and started the trek (if you pardon the pun) over to the Printworks.

The showing was at 6.30, we got there at about 6.25 – just enough time to grab the pre-booked tickets and head up, adding a fourth member to our merry band. Usually, a 6.30 showing still gives you about 20 minutes of trailers and adverts – so we thought. We walked into the IMAX theatre and to our horror the place was full. The only seats left were the ones we really didn’t want: the ones in the front row.

Still, we sat through it – very enjoyable film but I would like to go and see it again just to know what was going on at the other end of the screen!

So we then decided to head into town to get a couple of drinks. Bear in mind that earlier in the day, Manchester United had played Arsenal, so there was a good amount of “merry” folk in and around the various establishments. The first pub we headed to claimed not have any glasses, so couldn’t let us in. The second was full of pre-mentioned “merry” gentlemen and wasn’t appealling. The third claimed that the bar was closed (this was 9.00 pm!). The fourth we tried was a branch of Revolution. The bouncer looked up and down and just said “no”. Aaaargh! Doesn’t anyone want our money?

They claimed that, because there were four of us, we were a “gang” and thus would not be allowed on the premises. Eventually, one of us explained to the nice gentlemen at the door that we were just four blokes who had just been to the cinema and who just wanted a pint. So, grudgingly, they let us in (after making us pay £2 just to get in! Once in there, we eventually got served and proceeded to slowly savour our drinks and attempt to talk to each other. As well as watching several “gangs” of people being let in … ah well.

We decided that our eardrums couldn’t cope with any more noise and headed off toward the train station to get off home. En-route, one of our members split off to go and pick his car up from a car park, only to discover that the Police had cordoned off the car park because some clever soul had decided to muck about on the roof. After a Police escort, he eventually got in his car and headed home.

Meanwhile, the rest of us got to Piccadilly only to find that we had an hour to wait for our train home. Not wanting to head back into town, we hung around the station, avoiding several “merry” gentlemen and ladies (had we been successful in our earlier mission we may not have cared). Once on the train, we again encountered a few gentlemen celebrating their recent win and some others who weren’t happy about it. The loud debate on the various ways in which each other could go away continued for most of the journey.

Once back home, we considered continuing the evening in more familiar surroundings but, in the end, decided that enough was enough and headed back to our various abodes.

Still, it was nice to get out.