Sunday the congress closed.  There was a meeting in the morning where votes of thanks were offered to the many hard working individuals who had put the show on the road and kept it there so efficiently.

Then those who had been nominated to serve on the international committee said a few words on what they could bring to the organisation and a deal of friendly confusion surrounded the business of voting.  There was a lot of multilingual explanation and counter explanation but eventually voting papers in the form of unsold day visitor passes were scribbled on and collected.

The next item of business, while the votes were being counted, was to be a presentation by the various cities vying to hold the next congress.  Understandably there was not the same razzamatazz as accompanies an Olympics bid presentation and since there was only one bid the razzamatazz level was further reduced.

But it was a lovely presentation.  Although the rules say the new committee has to be in existence before a decision on the location can be made, in the light of continuing delays in sorting out the votes the rules were bypassed and Strasbourg was confirmed by acclamation.  Amongst the many interesting possibilities for Strasbourg was the suggestion of opening out the participation to amateur saxophonists and community groups. I'll be keeping my eye on the website and honing my skills in anticipation of that coming to pass. 

We then repaired to the foyer at the invitation of the Strasbourg team for a glass of champagne in celebration and at some point the voting results were announced over the hubbub of wine slurping and conversation.

Next up was a concert made up of the director's choice of what we might have missed or would like to see again.  He'd invited a couple of dozen acts and given them 5 minutes each.  Every item was a gem from the guy who does a sort of combination of Mongolian throat singing and tenor sax playing to a brilliant electronic spot combining tenor and recorded voice castigating the media for its failings.

But the ne plus ultra had to be the combination of the Strasbourg ensemble and a Costa Rican bongo and sax band playing Philippe Gleiss's Klezmer Salsa that had the congress organisers dancing on stage and the audience dancing in the aisles.   

Philippe is a teacher, composer and brilliant instrumentalist who will be heading the organisation of the Strasbourg congress which I think guarantees it will be a gas.

A more formal closing concert featuring the SCO and three eminent sax players each playing a significant work from the classical repertoire was the final event.  Unfortunately I had a Faustus rehearsal to go to and although I could just have made it after the concert (that's what I had planned) there was the annoying fact that I had forgotten to take my script to St Andrews so done no work on the play and this was to be the first off the book rehearsal.

I needed at least an hour to make minimum preparation so I went home cursing my forgetfulness and savouring the memory of every glorious minute of the week just gone.