Hmm British people are genuine, so they may appear less friendly than Americans at first, however this isn't the case. There is a very strong idea of 'good manners', which involves things like holding the door open for other people, allowing other people to join traffic and waiting for others when space is limited on the road. :P It is common for people to help strangers, however minor. In China for example, I was walking down to the subway in Beijing and a woman was struggling to take her pram with son in it down to the train-level. I picked it up for her and carried it down - she was so shocked and happy to see my help, but in the UK this is just common normal behaviour. British people are also quite honest and trustworthy, we have one of the lowest rates of corruption in the world and people are very anti-cheating in all spheres of life.