Perspectives on Residency

A Scottish couple who have lived in Switzerland for a number of years and held Swiss residency provided this anecdote - makes you think about how we view being residents of the United Kingdom?. Here is the story: They are at an official office to give up Swiss residency , when the official had set everything up on his computer he looked them straight in the eye with his two fingers poised over the keyboard and said "Are you sure you want to leave Switzerland for ever? Last chance! ". It may just be a way of completing a formal duty but it might indicate how seriously the Swiss take themselves. How seriously do we take the idea of residency whether we view that as being the United Kingdowm or Scotland and if someone asked us 'Are you sure you want to leave the United Kingdom/Scotland for ever?' What would we say? This raises all sorts of questions of course -do we ever leave anywhere we have lived, perhaps we simply take it with us in some shape or form. What if that question had been asked of the folks leaving Scotland in the past? What if we asked people leaving Scotland today that question and then went on to ask them what they have most appreciated about living in Scotland?