An Englishman abroad

Did I mention I went to Geneva a couple of weeks ago?

It was my first visit. I'd previously driven past the city en route to Lausanne and Zurich but that was all.

Biggest disappointment? No snow. Not even a snowflake. It was colder in Cambridge when I got home.

On the plus side Switzerland is considerably more liberal than Britain when it comes to smoking. Two years ago, following a visit to Zurich, I wrote:

The Swiss attitude to smoking, in Zurich at least, seems pretty tolerant. At the railway station, for example, I spent a spare hour reading English newspapers and drinking coffee at an Italian caffe that had chairs and tables on the main (covered) concourse.

Every table had an ashtray and seated at the tables were smokers of every age group bar children. Meanwhile people drifted around or walked purposely across the concourse, some lighting up as they did so.

I also commented on this "magnificent" bar and smokers' lounge which is worth a visit should you find yourself in the city.

French-speaking Geneva is possibly the least liberal canton but everything's relative. For example, we stayed in a hotel where the offer of a smoking or non-smoking room was a standard part of the checking-in procedure, no different to being asked if you wanted a wake-up call or a newspaper.

There were two bars in the hotel, one called Le Fumoir and Cigar Lounge. Fumoirs (smoking rooms) are common in Switzerland. This one had comfortable leather armchairs and sofas and even though I was sitting three feet from one smoker and six feet from another I wasn't aware of even a whiff of smoke. (What's wrong with me?!)

If Switzerland and other European countries can allow this perfectly reasonable compromise I don't understand why Britain and Ireland can't.

Anyway, if you're not familiar with a city it helps to know someone who is so I was delighted to finally meet Mark Butcher.

Mark moved to Geneva in 1992. He's been an occasional commenter on this blog for several years and we've swapped the odd email.

Beyond that I knew very little about him apart from the fact that he works for an English-speaking radio station. Or, should I say, he owns it.

Wikipedia has the full story here. The concise version is that Mark's company Anglo Media bought World Radio Switzerland (WRS) in 2012 from the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation. Today it's a digital station that survives on advertising.

Monday to Friday Mark presents the breakfast programme. It's a combination of Radio 2 style music and chat. Global news is provided by BBC World Service; local news is written by Mark himself.

The rest of the schedule is a "mixture of live shows, locally contributed programmes and other BBC programmes".

If you want to know more I recommend this interview.

To listen to WRS click here.

To learn more about the Iqos heat stick (Mark is an avid user and spent most of the evening puffing on one), watch this space.