A woman caught on video with her arms crossed peering out of the window of her home along the Notting Hill Carnival route says she is ‘really embarrassed’ to have gone viral on social media and says her expression has been misinterpreted. The footage was shared on X during the first day of Carnival on Sunday (August 24) with the caption “not everyone is loving Notting Hill Carnival” and has been viewed 5.8 million times.
In the clip the person filming zooms in on the woman stood by the window looking out at the carnival parade going next to her home. In the footage a Little Simz track is playing and a DJ can be heard saying ‘I tell you it is Carnival, are you ready to have a good time?!’ The woman is seen looking out onto the straight and admits she ‘must have looked grumpy’ but promises that wasn’t the case.
One reply with more than 118,000 likes said: “The concept of buying a house in Notting Hill then being vexed when you have Notting Hill Carnival outside your house two days a year.” Another wrote: “I don’t get why someone would willingly move there knowing that the carnival takes place annually. Then she has the temerity to have a face like that on her.”
But Sue, 79, a retired sales manager originally from Australia who has lived in the flat for three years, said her expression had been misinterpreted. “It’s terrible,” she told PA news agency. “We were sitting and having dinner and enjoying it and we thought let’s have a look out the window.”
She admitted she “must have looked grumpy” because she had her arms crossed, but insisted she had been enjoying the atmosphere. “It’s probably because I had my arms crossed – I should have been dancing,” she said. “People just want to say nasty things and will ask ‘who’s that cranky lady in the window’.”
Sue said she usually went away during the carnival but had stayed home this year. “The carnival isn’t my taste but they were having so much fun – we just stayed indoors all day,” she said. “We normally go away with our friends because we’re old but this year we just stayed at home.”
‘I’m not against the carnival – let the young people have fun’
She added: “I’m not against the carnival at all – it’s noisy but it’s for the young – let them have fun. We didn’t hear anyone being violent or drunk or rude – people were sitting on our step just having fun.”
Sue said she had been hoping the event passed off safely after violence marred last year’s celebrations. “Last year someone was stabbed so we were just hoping there would be no violence,” she said.
‘They must have thought I was so snooty’
She added that she felt “really embarrassed” at the online attention. “They must have thought I was so snooty,” she said. “I’m not a grumpy old woman.”
Europe’s biggest street festival regularly attracts more than two million people but has also sparked tensions with some local residents over noise, crowds and disruption. In past years, campaigners and politicians have suggested moving or cancelling the event, but it has continued in west London as a major celebration of Caribbean culture.
More than 500 people were arrested over the two days of the carnival this year, including 61 after the use of live facial recognition. The number is up from 349 last year when the event also saw the murders of 32-year-old mother Cher Maximen and chef Mussie Imnetu.
Stay informed about the latest West London news. Sign up for our MyWestLondon newsletter HERE to receive daily updates and more.
