“Ye’ll take the high road and I’ll take the low road and I’ll be in Scotland afore ye. But me and my true love will never meet again…”
These are the familiar lyrics of an old Scottish folk song – a lament of lovers separated by death. The story tells of a young man who perishes far from home. The low road represents his soul’s journey into the next world while his lost love awaits him on the ‘high road’ in the world of the living.
The broad, lower-deck service corridor on the port side of Titanic’s ‘E Deck’, that ran the length of the ship, was named ‘SCOTLAND ROAD’ by the crew. Officers referred to it, tongue in cheek, with the ritzier name of ‘PARK LANE.’
It was used by crew members and steerage passengers to quickly move between the ends of the ship. The term Scotland Road is now used to describe any straight corridor or passageway which allows easy access and an unrestricted flow of traffic through the length of a building.
The forward end of Scotland Road filled with water quickly when Titanic nose-dived which would have made it a useless escape route for the passengers ‘below stairs’.
Ironically, Titanic’s ‘Scotland Road,’ one of the first corridors to fill with water and weigh down the forward bow, was on one of the lowest decks where the women and children steerage passengers were unthinkably segregated from the lifeboats and doomed to die.
Banned from the first-class promenade decks, Finn Cleary, the ghost protagonist of ‘THE UNTHINKABLE SHOES’ ran up and down ‘Scotland Road’ to break in his new shoes, playing with the other third-class immigrant children on the ‘underground low road’ – a substitute walkway for steerage Decks E and F.
Finn, an Irish immigrant boy, and an unborn girl on Titanic, are destined to be together until five-year-old Finn, the ghost protagonist in ‘The Unthinkable Shoes’, loses his life and his future bride, hanging on to the submerged bars of a locked gate at the top end of ‘Scotland Road.’ But love finds an extraordinary way for Finn and his true love to meet again.
‘THE UNTHINKABLE SHOES’ by V. KNOX – a Titanic-inspired love story:
FINN CLEARY IS IN A STATE OF SPIRITUAL SHOCK – an unsinkable soul, suddenly aware of his past lives. Five-years-old yet ageless, he struggles to accept his death on the Titanic and put his next life in order. It’s a lot for a lost boy to take on board.
To be launched on or before April 15, 2016, the 104th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic. – GENRE: literary fiction / magical realism / paranormal romance
Veronica Knox 
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Such minor details of the ship and the people who used the different areas are more interesting to me than details about the story. Can’t wait to read the story in the book itself – not here as a “trailer” as it were. Too many trailers may give away the story.
Dare I say that after I researched the Titanic, the details were the tip of an iceberg. With so many passengers, the stories are endless. It’s amazing how far a story can reach from spending a few minutes looking at a pair of baby shoes in a museum.
Thank you for commenting. I can’t tell you how reassuring it is to receive a comment. Blogging for a beginner, is like sending an S.O.S. to another galaxy light years away.