Out of the Darkness...A Titan and his Dog

One of the great mysteries of the mind is how it recreates an incident long forgotten, then suddenly reappears, and for no reason you and I can possibly understand - do read on:
In 1975, I remember going to New York to witness a Horowitz recital at Carnegie Hall, and got there the day before the event.
That evening, I decided to take a stroll not far from where I was staying, and it was just about total darkness, when a gentleman, dressed in a black overcoat and a black hat pulled down over his brow, with his head down, and with a leash attached to a black Poodle, approached at a fairly brisk pace, then went by - it was Vladimir Horowitz.
All of the following took place in just a few seconds:
My mind raced with the following issues- at that time I then reminded myself that Horowitz did not live far from this location, knowing his address. Please believe me when I state that I had totally forgotten about his place of residence until that very moment. Then the question slammed into me - should I turn and attempt to greet him, and if so, what should I say? Was he in a contemplative mode, going over his recital of the next day? Would he have been cordial? Or just the opposite?? Would I have been stupid making the attempt?
Then the sober reality of the demons that he faced before so many of his concerts instructed me to just move on.
I DID look back, however, for one last glimpse of a giant who had just passed me by- he had disappeared around a corner not far back of me.
All of the above, in just a few seconds...
Strange; how such shards of memory re-emerge.