It was early on Christmas morning when the almighty din came rumbling across the paddocks, belting into the side of his house.
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Outside he went and there it was, the skid loader from his shed, where he'd been fixing the hydraulics.
But now some lark was hooning the Bobcat across paddocks, smashing one gate after another, padlocks still locked but hinges left swinging.
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The victim, on his small Springdale Heights farm out off Shaw Street, gave chase, bewildered by the Yuletide hi-jinks and the sight of what he actually could not see.
For the thief had given new meaning, on this day of great meaning, to the proverbial "flying by the seat of his pants".
Nathan Neagle had no trousers. He was sans shirt, short of shoes, wore no socks, was missing the lot.
He'd also lost the very fibre of his being, for methamphetamine ravaged the 24-year-old Walla man.
On his arrest, Albury police furnished naked Neagle, at the station, with a new set of threads, yet he had no memory of what he'd done.
Now in Junee jail bail, having been bail refused for 36 days on a series of offences - including methamphetamine possession, take and drive vehicle, deceptions, destroy property and carrying a knife - Neagle's matters were adjourned in Albury Local Court to October 24.
This time he got bail, but he will remain in custody until a drug rehabilitation bed becomes available, in two to three weeks, at Wagga.
Because of his addiction, defence lawyer Angus Lingham said, Neagle "is someone who has gone from very little offending to very repetitive offending".
One was 24 hours after his Christmas Day arrest.
He embarked on some thieving at Lowe's clothing store in Albury, but only for the essentials: shorts, a T-shirt and underwear.
Oh, and a pair of thongs.
