I went to Crystal Palace for a last, pre-closure visit only to find when I read the C&MC magazine, a stay of executions had been granted. Good! The site is popular, well located and is an excellent choice of venue foir visiting London. It's not perfect though.....the approach from the major arteries is tortuous, tedious and at times very, very frustrating. The South Circular Road is a joke and sign posting is sometimes confusing; also it is invariably choked with traffic and there is more pressure on drivers to keep up with the flow of traffic. Generally the site is reasonably quiet given its position but there is inevitably some background noise, such as wailing sirens in the early hours of the morning and on this occasion - as during other visits - I have been disturbed by workmen staying on the site and going to work very early in the morning/returning late at night. On this visit I was awakened at 3.30am by the sliding door on a VW camper being opened and closed several times. There was another worker who rode off on a noisy moped very early and returned late. I was a bit frustrated by the inability to obtain gas on site because the wardens were due to change over because it is not easy in London to pop along to a nearby garden centre with all the attendant problems of finding it, parking and so on. Despite my misgivings, I like the site and as I have no family with me to please, the convenience, location and price suit me when making one of my periodic visits to catch up with old friends. The shower blocks are well overdue for refurbishment but obviously with its uncertain future this will never happen and as I am an early riser I always beat the rush, however, the pipework was making alarming noises when the hot tap was turned on, so prepare to be startled.