I've started to find that "street" shooting can just as well be done with (and sometimes is more discreet with) a small P&S like the Ricoh GRD II or the Panasonic DMC-LX3 versus any M camera. That said, those are still digital - I can still garner some good shots with them and it still satisfies my "I want to see it now" lust.
Dave, i recently got back from Buenos Aires, where I was using my Rd1s and my Ricoh GRD, and there were times I thought it would be great to be just carrying the Ricoh. Looking at my street shots, I think I prefer the ones I took with the Ricoh. And as counter-RFF as it seems, one of the reasons I like the Ricoh is I found to my surprise that I like composing on the screen. That said, I was more than happy to have the Epsons, especially for night and low-light shots.
But for me there is no analog RF to go back to. Like Mick Jagger quipped when the Beatles released "Get Back," -- they have no back to get back to. I was attracted to the R-D1 because it was the closest digital equivalent in size and handling to the Olympus OM system I had been using for 30 years. I didn't have a rangefinder background. I wasn't migrating from an M system.
I don't have much nostalgia for developing film. My results were inconsistent. Furthermore, since the early nineties, I had primarily been shooting in colour. Basically binge shootings on vacation, and then darkroom rentals the rest of the year. I never figured out masks and things, and I think anyone who has dodged and burned printing colour, with the resultant colour shifts, appreciates the advantages digital colour printing provides.
I appreciate Helen's comments about batteries and sensor cleaning (funny I didn't notice how dirty my sensor was until the last day when I looked at the sky and beach shots.) But then I don't miss changing film, although I've never owned a Leica, so never had the chance to develop the baseplate in the mouth technique.
For me, it's not just the immediacy. With analog, waiting to scan or to print, because of other time commitments, I ended up having what I called "the pile." Negatives and slides I never got around to printing. One of the lies I told myself to convince myself to go digital, was that I would then have more time to go through the old ones. But of course digital leads to shooting more and more.
That said, your post has me leaning more and more to finally getting the CLAs and repairs on my Olympus bodies. While I don't see them becoming my primary cameras, I miss using them. That, I guess, is similar to your feelings about missing your manual M's for reasons that are not necessarily to tied to the question of film versus digital.
And welcome back.