EDMONDS, Wash. - When Bill Lindsay heads down the Edmonds waterfront to get his daily scientific readings, people notice. It's not that he wears some fancy scientist smock or drives some specially equipped vehicle. No, Bill Lindsay has a thermometer and very little else.
"He walks around all the time, whether it's summer time, winter time and he's wearing no shirt, or a really tight white T-shirt," explained ferry worker Trevor Sharp.
"Well, he always wears shots, goes barefoot and has long gray hair," added beach regular Dorothy Donahue. "(He) kind of looks like a little hermit or sea person."
Well, Lindsay is a bit of a sea person. He says he grew up swimming, surfing and sailing near Atlantic City, New Jersey and started taking daily temperature readings as a child. He never lost interest in that and now combines his thermometer readings with observations of the sky, surf and tide. He's compiled a 10-year scientific diary, with almost daily recordings of these conditions, and says he can now use it to predict what will happen next.
"You can see here we've got a difference of maybe 3 degrees," said Lindsay as he observed his readings for the day.
It used to surprise him to find temperature differences of 3, 4, 5 or more degrees in the water just 20 or 30 feet away.
Not any more. Now he frequently finds major fluctuations.
What does it all mean? Lindsay doesn't know. He is not trying to prove some theory or change the world, he just enjoys measuring it and people on the waterfront seem to enjoy watching him do it.
"Bill Lindsay is the spirit of Edmonds, he walks around and kind of brings people together," said barista Janna Shields, who has been watching Lindsay for years. "Pretty much everyone knows who he is. There's a lot of different nicknames, I know he has a Facebook sight now too," she added.
Lindsay is aware of his sudden notoriety and while he's not used to it, he understands it and accepts it.
"I encourage anyone to say hello and ask me questions," he often says. "I learn as much from them as they do from me."
At 60 years old, Lindsay's fit and considerably exposed body looks much younger. And that's how this all started. Lindsay says he combined a new exercise routine with his love for natural science and now has no plans to stop taking the Sound's temperature any time soon.
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