The Farnborough International Airshow is held every two years and is a week-long trade event, culminating in a weekend of public access. I am lucky enough to have friends who live very close to the airfield and who puts on a garden party on the Sunday, affording us the benefits of their BBQ skills and a free view of the flying displays.

They've done this for several years now, so I've seen plenty of these displays, but have to say that this year was a little lacklustre. I appreciate that different people like different things, but for me an airshow like this should be resulting in involuntary 'Whoa' and 'Wow' noises, and this just can't be achieved by a WW1 biplane pootling past at 50 knots. Or a gyrocopter.

In years gone by, I've seen F-35s, Eurofighters, Vulcans (all of which are now grounded) and the Red Arrows, who are no longer allowed to perform their aerobatic displays over land, so just took off and flew away this year.

I know I'm getting the show for free and so have no cause for complaint, but the only real spectacle this year was the mountain of meat coming off the grill.