The people are very friendly, very laid back. It is a big city though, so you do get lots of begging in downtown Vancouver, just as you do in London I guess. The main thing we have learned is that we don't speak the same language after all.
The number of times we have ordered something only to queue up for it and find we got the wrong thing and it has to be made all over again. We have to remember things like 'to go' instead of 'take away', 'will call' instead of 'ticket collection window', 'for sure' instead of 'of course', 'perfect' instead of 'thanks', 'you have a nice day now' instead of 'yeah, bye', 'chips' instead of 'crisps', 'fries' instead of 'chips', 'never ending fries' instead of 'can I take your plate please', 'thank you maam' instead of 'bye', 'alrighty' instead of 'you're a bit wierd aren't you'.
Update November:
I took Rowan to our local Mall and when the assistant approached me (as they always do, with a 'Is there anything I can help you with today maam...') I said I was looking for a jumper for my little boy and pointed at Rowan. She stared blankly at me for a while and glanced from me to Rowan several times before saying 'We don't sell jumpers - well we wouldn't for boys anyhow...'. I pointed to a 'jumper' hanging on the rail and said 'Well, this looks a nice one but I can't see his size...' at which she burst into laughter - 'Oh, you're English, sorry I should have known' whereupon she explained that a jumper is what we would call a pinafore dress.... oh it's just hilarious.....;-)