I wanted to share another portion of interesting things I've met on my way. See below.

I like the fact that English people smile and act politely. In buses (when everyone is pissed off because s/he is stuck in a traffic), on the streets, in shops, people are just nice, they don't look like permanently angry people (like Czech people do).
I actually don't think that this has anything to do with communism, or being West rather than East. No, the situation here is also not easy (esp. for ordinary people), the rents are sky-high, for young people it is impossible to get their own place to live, the politicians are as bad as everywhere (in particular, half the people seem to think that Cameron is a real racist and fascist), things are expensive, the public transport is chaos... but still people are not aggressive and they are not making others feel their frustration (like they do in the Czech Republic, and possibly elsewhere).

Manchester lacks metro, or good tram system, or something that would provide the 'axis' of the city. In cities where there is a metro (or trams with similar function), it is much easier to be oriented, to know where you are and where you want to be (and also how to get there). You just think in the metro/tram network framework, and that's it, and even in places where there's no metro, you still know where you are.
Of course there's no such thing here in Manchester. Here, we have trams which go 'nowhere' (from the 1000 places they should go, they go to basically three). And we have a network of buses which are i) total chaos, ii) total anarchy. No wonder that there are so many traffic jams! I guess people just do not want to use the chaotic, complex bus system, so they go by car... which causes the buses to be even more chaotic because of the traffic jams... which makes people go by their own car even more... and so on... and so on.

I have discovered few new words. One of them is 'ish'. While my friend the linguist claims 'ish' to be a suffix only, I disagree. 'Ish' is usually preceded by a space/pause in speech, and sometimes there's a phrase 'well... ish'. I think this makes it separate word! :-)
(I have asked my landlady, and she thinks that 'ish' is a word too. And she's native, so she should know!)
(For those who do not know: 'ish' is something which makes the previous statement a bit ore vague, and bit less definite. It started as suffix meaning 'soft of' (e.g. pinkish is not exactly pink, it's just sort of pink), but it evolved. A lot.)
Another word I've discovered just today is 'quid'. That means 'pound' (yes, Queen Elizabeth money). But it's funny to hear such a word from someone like your boss. I'd expect this to be slang, but obviously it's just a normal, perfectly acceptable word. (Try to google its origins.)
Third funny thing is the right adjective from 'Manchester'. It's 'Mancunian'. And now I know how to pronounce it! :-)
Last thing: Mancunians obviously call 'trousers' 'pants'. I did not know that, I thought that this was the case only in the US, but obviously the locals think differently!

English men are very interesting when it comes to their dressing habits. Many of them wear suits, obviously only because they have to. There's a guy in the office next to mine who always wears funny stuff and only changes in the office (and very reluctantly...). Everyone loves the 'dress down Friday' here, and all companies seem to be doing it. You can also meet people in suit trousers and shirt, wearing a fleece sweatshirt! Real fashionistas, with pink shirt and brown shoes, and they are wearing fleece hoodies or bright red goretex/windstopper jackets. :-)
Like, seriously?