It seems that makes me the only person who can share the following piece of news, as it reached me from her husband, to the people who lived that virtual life with her:

… on April 3rd, my wife was hit by a van as she crossed the street to get to the bakery. She was dead before SAMU could reach the hospital. She was 9 months pregnant; our unborn son died shortly after she did, despite doctors’ best efforts. […]

I know how much Valérie loved an cherished the people she friended as Rheta. Even if your world is not mine, and howewer much I mocked her for it, I know her feelings were genuine, and I am sure the feelings she got in return were too: she was simply too warm hearted and wonderful a person not to love. In a way, her second life friends were the extended family she had not, and I present my most heartfelt condolences to that family. We all lost somebody very special.

I also know that among all the special people she met, there was one who held a place in her heart no one could rival, her lover Thaddy. Thaddy, if you happen to read this, I know this must be devastating news, and I am deeply sorry to be the one to have to tell it. But please, by all means, get in touch with me – you are the heir, and executor, of the virtual estate left, and I do not want to take any further steps without talking to you.

Valérie, you made the world around you a brighter place. Rather than mourn you, I will try to keep a bit of that light in my heart, and bask in its warmth and glow whenever I think of you.

Adieu ma belle.

Après la grève

Thank you for having been such a wonderful audience, ladies and gentlemen, and please give the performers a big hand.

Following the call by the eminent Ms Gwyneth Llewelyn for a general strike of the gallant fraternity (and sorority) of bloggers against the unbearable tyranny brought upon us by His Majesty’s legal and marketing departments (as documented here, here, and here), this blog will be on strike from today April 15th until April 18th 2008. No post will be available for perusal but those linked here, and none will be added until then.

As a diverting and topically appropriate interlude, we offer a reenactement of M. Hugo’s Les Misérables with a superb contemporary cast, starring Codebastard Redgrave as Jean Valjean (left), Ana Lutetia as Éponine (kneeling on the barricade), Jacek Antonelli as Marius (second from the left), Kit Meredith as Gavroche (right), and Gwyneth Llewelyn as la Liberté (center); also guest starring Catherine Linden as Thénardier, Robin Linden as Javert and Philip Linden as His most gracious Majesty, the King of France.

La Liberté menant le peuple, par Eugène Delacroix

Now if I could just think of another song to sing on the barricades but this one:

Ah ça ira, ça ira, les aristocrates à la lanterne…

Post scriptum

it has been brought to our attention that the following blogs are on strike:

• Gwyn’s Home, by the eminent Ms Llewelyn herself
• getasecondlife.net, by the always charming Ms Cat Magellan
• Tagus Friends Weblog, by Ms Afrodite Ewry and her friends from Portugal
• Codebastardredgrave.com, by my beloved Red Queen
• Jacek Lives, by the Queen of cuddlefishes, Ms Jacek Antonelli
• What Is This Crap, by the honourable if contrarian Mr Crap Mariner
• iYan Writer in Second Life, by that most respectable gardener, Mr iYan Writer
• Second Life, First Person, by the always smart Ms Kit Meredith
• The podcast site of the well known Mr Tao Takashi
• Tenth Life, by a Caledonian gentleman, Mr Otenth Paderborn
• SignpostMarv’s SL Blog, by a gentleman of the coding persuasion, Mr SignpostMarv Martin
• Discursos do Outro Mundo, by a Portuguese Gentleman, Mr PalUP Ling
• airdiogo, another blog from Portugal
• Education in virtual/real worlds, yet another blog from Portugal
• Liberdade Perfeita, and yet another blog from that plucky country on the Iberian peninsula
• Portal Second Life, and it is another one indeed
• Also Portucalis, Second Life Portugal, Ms Summer Wardhani’s A praia da minha Second Life, Fokas’s Weblog and PT Code too, as our dazed eyes and minds realise
• Lost in Bananaverse, by the leguminous (nay, fruity) Mr Guy “Banana” Schilling
• A Stroll through Caledon, by the very stylish Ms Eladrienne Laval
  of Caledon Regency & Mayfair
• Virtual Jungle, by the wisely rebellious Mr Danton Sideways
• In Praise of Folly, by a gentleman of the legal profession, Mr Forelle Broek
• CronoCloud Creeggan, Virtual Fashionista, by the aforementioned
• The Avatar Lunette Fouroux, another blog with a self explaining title
• Girl meets Second Life, by the sweet if martial Ms Caterin Semyorka
• second life® of my dreams, by the ever gracious Ms Chestnut Rau
• Midcourt, by a manly gentleman, Mr Jordyn Carnell
• Voyage from Pluto, by the very sweet Ms Anna Junebug Tsiolkovsky
• The Young and the Rezzless, by the intrepid Ms Jezabell Barbosa
• iAlja Writer’s life in a trademarked world, by the always lively Ms iAlja Writer
• Also, Ms Zoe Connolly, of SLBloggers and Caledon Royal Air force fame, is not only joining the strike with her Aviatrix:: Zoe Connolly, but in fact extending it to impressive 30 days
• Finally, the charming and witty Minister of the First Church of Rosedale, Ms Samantha Poindexter, has let us know that her call and beliefs do not allow her to join us, but that she wishes the strike the best of luck

We have also been notified that not content with shutting down its entire SL related blogosphere, Portugal also witnesses its bona fide RL press picking up the issue. Ah, felix Portugal…

Please do not hesitate to notify us of further developments.

Post Post Scriptum:

The strike has ended, but the story around it has not. Those interested in both its past and future might find this odd beast of a post of interest.