A tap on the bulletproof glass announced the arrival of a well-worn, shabbily dressed older man who, from his battered nose spotted with red spider telangiectasia, I knew was a chronic alcoholic.

A spider angioma (also known as a nevus araneus, spider nevus, vascular spider, and spider telangiectasia) is a type of telangiectasis found slightly beneath the skin surface, often containing a central red spot and reddish extensions which radiate outwards like a spider's web.